Reuters:
North Korea has made considerable progress this year on weapons technology, including testing a submarine-launched missile for the first time, but it’s still not clear if the isolated nation has developed a nuclear warhead.
It also does not yet have a fleet of submarines that can launch the newly developed missile.
Nevertheless, concerns about the threat posed by North Korea have spiraled since it conducted its fourth nuclear explosion in January and followed it up with a series of missile tests despite severe United Nations sanctions.
Also, three major factories known to produce machine parts for North Korea’s sanctioned nuclear and missile programs have been modernized or expanded, according to analysis of recent satellite imagery seen by Reuters, a further sign of its commitment of scarce resources to weapons.
“North Korea has dramatically increased the pace of missile testing and invested heavily in modernizing its factories that produce them, something we can see in satellite images,” said Jeffrey Lewis of the California-based Middlebury Institute of International Studies.
“These investments have paid off with the recent test of a solid-fueled submarine-launched missile, but North Korea has not yet completed development of a submarine to carry that missile.”
In April, a South Korean official said the North had accomplished miniaturization of a nuclear warhead to mount on a missile, although there was no direct evidence it had done so. The United States has said the North’s claim that it had miniaturized a warhead had to be taken as a credible threat.
