Let's face it – Koreans now have nuclear weapons, experts warn

THE international crisis surrounding North Korea's missile programme intensified last night as analysts warned that intelligence agencies have shifted their thinking to acknowledge publicly that the nation has become a nuclear power.

This week has seen world leaders comment that North Korea can deploy nuclear weapons on shorter-range missiles that could be directed at South Korea or Japan.

Yesterday, Kevin Rudd, the Australian prime minister, described North Korea and Iran's nuclear ambitions as "two of the gravest security challenges in Australia's strategic environment".

And Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said earlier this week: "North Korea has nuclear weapons, which is a matter of fact. I don't like to accept any country as a nuclear-weapon state, but we have to face reality."

One think tank has estimated that North Korea managed to mount nuclear devices on weapons as recently as the end of last year. This coincides with the US Forces joint command and the Pentagon also naming North Korea as one of Asia's nuclear powers in December.

James Schlesinger, the former US defence secretary, said: "North Korea, India and Pakistan have acquired both nuclear weapons and missile delivery systems."

Robert Gates, the current US Defence Secretary, said in January that North Korea was included in an arc of nuclear powers running from Israel through Pakistan, India, China and Russia.

All these remarks are seen as a signal that defence experts believe North Korea has managed to create miniature warheads, which can be launched as medium-range missiles, with the potential to strike cities in neighbouring countries.

When North Korea carried out a nuclear test in October 2006, analysts said it did not prove Pyongyang could build nuclear warheads.

Pyongyang agreed under a 2007 six-party deal to disable its main nuclear complex in Yongbyon in return for the equivalent of one million tons of fuel oil in aid and other concessions.

In June 2008, North Korea blew up a cooling tower at the plant in a dramatic display of its commitment to denuclearisation. But the disablement came to halt a month later, as North Korea wrangled with Washington over how to verify its past nuclear activities.

North Korea last week expelled international nuclear monitors, vowed to restart its atomic programme and quit disarmament negotiations to protest at the UN Security Council's condemnation of its 5 April rocket launch. The US and others believe it was a test of long-range missile technology.

Yesterday, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov visited North Korea and called for efforts to revive the stalled talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear programmes.

The Russian diplomat also warned that no country should use North Korea's 5 April rocket launch – which it insisted was a communications satellite – to justify an arms race or building missile defences in the region.