Report: North Korea Is Developing Missile-Ready Nukes

According to a chilling new report from the Washington Post, North Korea is developing missile-ready nuclear weapons at a speed much faster than experts anticipated.

North Korea has successfully produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead that can fit inside its missiles, crossing a key threshold on the path to becoming a full-fledged nuclear power, U.S. intelligence officials have concluded in a confidential assessment.

 

The new analysis completed last month by the Defense Intelligence Agency comes on the heels of another intelligence assessment that sharply raises the official estimate for the total number of bombs in the communist country’s atomic arsenal. The U.S. calculated last month that up to 60 nuclear weapons are now controlled by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Some independent experts believe the number of bombs is much smaller.

 

The findings are likely to deepen concerns about an evolving North Korean military threat that appears to be advancing far more rapidly than many experts had predicted. U.S. officials last month concluded that Pyongyang is also outpacing expectations in its effort to build an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of striking cities on the American mainland.

 

While more than a decade has passed since North Korea’s first nuclear detonation, many analysts believed it would be years before the country’s weapons scientists could design a compact warhead that could be delivered by missile to distant targets. But the new assessment, a summary document dated July 28, concludes that this critical milestone has already been reached.

It all brings us back to the same question we’ve asked ourselves over and over and over again. When do we draw a line in the sand, and what do we do when they cross it? (Haven’t they already?) Clearly, waiting on China to do something isn’t working. And the “hey you better not!” warnings are falling flat. What comes next? I understand the hesitancy to actually take military action, because that would put the South Koreans in immediate danger. At the same time, when is enough enough? North Korea isn’t going to have a sudden change of heart. This will only progress.

I hate to say this, but I think we need to take diplomacy off the table. At least, after Trump calls Dennis Rodman one last time. Maybe Rodman can reach out to Chubby McDictator and talk some sense into him.  (KIDDING. But the fact that the joke isn’t much of a stretch? Yeah. That’s something else.)