S. Korea: North Can Make 7 Nuclear Bombs
Pastor Dale Morgan
S. Korea: North Can Make 7 Nuclear Bombs*
The Associated Press
Thursday, October 26, 2006; 4:20 AM
SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea estimates North Korea has enough
plutonium to make as many as seven nuclear bombs, according to a Defense
Ministry report disclosed Thursday.
The communist nation is also working to make a small, lightweight
nuclear warhead that can be mounted atop a ballistic missile, the
ministry said in the internal assessment made public by Song Young-sun,
a lawmaker from the main opposition Grand National Party.
The assessment is based on a meeting of top South Korean military
officials a day after the North's Oct. 9 nuclear test.
The report says the North is believed to have extracted 110 pounds of
high-grade plutonium, enough for up to seven nuclear weapons. The North
can use its Russian-made bombers to drop the bombs, the ministry said,
adding that the North has 82 Il-28 bombers at bases in Uiju and Jangjin.
North Korea also has built a nuclear warhead weighing some two to three
tons. To be mounted on a missile, the warhead would need to be less than
one ton, the ministry said.
The North stunned the world in 1998 by firing a long-range ballistic
missile over Japan into the Pacific Ocean. It also test-fired seven
missiles in July, including a long-range missile believed capable of
reaching the U.S. that crashed shortly after launch.