North Korea 'Validates' Its A-Bomb Designs: CIA

By John M. Donnelly

North Korea's nuclear-weapons tests have been sufficiently sophisticated to "validate" the design of Pyongyang's nuclear weapons, the CIA said in a previously unpublicized document.

The CIA statement, contained in an unclassified Aug. 18 letter to Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, appears to be the agency's first public description of North Korea's nuclear testing program, experts said.

The letter takes issue with the notion that North Korea would need to conduct a detectable nuclear test, as India and Pakistan did in 1998, to prove its atomic weapons could work. The CIA suggests, without saying so outright, that North Korea may have a credible nuclear deterrent today.

"We assess that North Korea has produced one or two simple fission-type nuclear weapons and has validated the designs without conducting yield-producing nuclear tests," said the CIA letter, signed by Stanley Moskowitz, the agency's director of Congressional Affairs.

"Press reports indicate North Korea has been conducting nuclear-weapon-related high-explosive tests since the 1980s in order to validate its weapon design(s)," the CIA said. "With such tests, we assess North Korea would not require nuclear tests to validate simple fission weapons."

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Another nuclear power in the world. Whoop-de-#in'-doo.

The fact that they have a couple of bombs is not really a big deal.While there is a reason to be worried , they still dont have the ICBM system to deliver them.

They still are a threat nonetheless.

Originally posted by ForceOfWill
The fact that they have a couple of bombs is not really a big deal.While there is a reason to be worried , they still dont have the ICBM system to deliver them.

They still are a threat nonetheless.

Sure... : Link 1Link 2Link 3

Originally posted by ultra_phoenix

Originally posted by ForceOfWill
The fact that they have a couple of bombs is not really a big deal.While there is a reason to be worried , they still dont have the ICBM system to deliver them.

They still are a threat nonetheless.

Sure... : Link 1Link 2Link 3

Yeah , i knew about the Tae Pong long range missiles but apparently they have all sort of problems and misfunctions and they are not very precise.From what i have heard , a 3rd version is now in developement and this new one is going to be a serious improvement over the second version.

However , i still have to admit that the tae pong 2 combined with a nuke could be a serious threat for Japan.I just realised that the news about NK having the bomb is more dangerous than what i originally thought.