North Korea’s Kim Says Country Has Miniaturized Nuclear Warheads
By REUTERS

SEOUL — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country has miniaturized nuclear warheads to mount on ballistic missiles and ordered improvements in the power and precision of its arsenal, state media reported on Wednesday.

Kim has called for his military to be prepared to mount pre-emptive attacks against the United States and South Korea and stand ready to use nuclear weapons, stepping up belligerent rhetoric after coming under new U.N. and bilateral sanctions last week for its nuclear and rocket tests.

U.S. and South Korean troops began large-scale military drills this week, which the North called “nuclear war moves” and threatened to respond with an all-out offensive.

Kim’s comments were his first direct mention of the claim, made repeatedly in state media, to have successfully miniaturized a nuclear warhead, which has been widely questioned and never independently verified.

“The nuclear warheads have been standardized to be fit for ballistic missiles by miniaturizing them,” KCNA quoted Kim as saying as he inspected the work of nuclear scientists, adding “this can be called a true nuclear deterrent”.

“He stressed the importance of building ever more powerful, precision and miniaturized nuclear weapons and their delivery means,” KCNA said.

Responding to the KCNA report, a U.S. State Department spokeswoman, Katina Adams, repeated a call on North Korea to “refrain from provocative actions and rhetoric that aggravate tensions.”

Kim also inspected the nuclear warhead designed for thermo-nuclear reaction, KCNA said, referring to a miniaturized hydrogen bomb that the country said it tested on Jan. 6.

Rodong Sinmun, official daily of North Korea’s ruling party, carried pictures of Kim in what seemed to be a large hangar speaking to aides standing in front of a silver spherical object.

They also showed a large object similar to the KN-08 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) previously put on display at military parades, with Kim holding a half-smoked cigarette in one of the images.

South Korea’s defense ministry said after the release of the images that it did not believe the North has successfully miniaturized a nuclear warhead or deployed a functioning ICBM.

That assessment is in line with the views of South Korean and U.S. officials that the North has likely made some advances in trying to put a nuclear warhead on a missile, but that there is no proof it has mastered the technology.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, speaking by telephone to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, described the situation on the Korean peninsula as “very tense” and called for all parties to remain calm and exercise restraint, China’s foreign ministry said.

North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6 but its claim to have set off a miniaturized hydrogen bomb has been disputed by the U.S. and South Korean governments and many experts.

Following on from the U.N. sanctions, South Korea on Tuesday announced further measures aimed at isolating North Korea by blacklisting individuals and entities that it said were linked to Pyongyang’s weapons program.

China also stepped up pressure by barring a North Korean freighter from one of its ports.

But a U.N. panel set up to monitor sanctions under an earlier Security Council resolution adopted in 2009 said in a report released on Tuesday that it had “serious questions about the efficacy of the current U.N. sanctions regime.”

North Korea has been “effective in evading sanctions” by continuing to engage in banned trade, “facilitated by the low level of implementation of Security Council resolutions by Member States,” the Panel of Experts said.

“The reasons are diverse, but include lack of political will, inadequate enabling legislation, lack of understanding of the resolutions and low prioritization,” it said.

北韓稱有「小型化核彈頭」 南韓指膨風

美國與南韓展開史上最大規模聯合軍演之際，北韓九日再次製造騷動，不僅首次公開據稱應是核彈頭的模型，北韓領導人金正恩還首次親口說，北韓已成功研發可裝置於導彈的小型化核彈頭。若屬實，北韓將對美國構成明顯威脅，但南韓隨即駁斥北韓已擁有小型化核彈頭說法。

北韓之前即表示該國已擁有小到可裝置於長程飛彈上核彈頭，因此有能力攻擊美國本土，但專家對此說法存疑。

朝中社和北韓中央電視台報導，金正恩說，北韓已透過核彈頭的輕量化（減重），實現其與彈道飛彈相容的標準化和規格化。這是金正恩首次親自表示，核武器小型化水平已達到可以由彈道飛彈運載的程度。報導引述金正恩談話說：「這是真正的核威脅武器。」

報導還說，小型化的彈頭有能力產生熱核反應，若是使用氫武器，爆炸威力將更大。北韓今年一月聲稱進行一項氫彈試爆，但外界專家認為爆炸威力小了許多，不認為試爆的是氫彈。

北韓勞動新聞在頭版刊登照片，顯示金正恩和數名科學家見面聽取工作簡報時，一起站在一個小型銀色金屬球形物旁，分析家認為它疑似是核彈頭模型。金正恩和科學家身後另有一個類似KN-08的長程彈道飛彈或彈道飛彈模型。

加州「詹姆士．馬丁核不擴散研究中心」高級副研究員梅麗莎．韓漢姆說，此一圓球物可能是核爆裂物裝置，它可能是一枚獨立的融合炸彈，也可能是一個更強大熱核裝置的引爆器。

金正恩與科學家會面時，還指示確保設施高水平運轉，不僅要製造更多精確化、小型化核武器及其載運工具，對已部署的核攻擊手段更要進行更新換代。金正恩威脅說，先制核攻絕非美國所能壟斷，若美帝企圖以核武侵犯北韓生存，北韓會毫不猶豫率先動用核武。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2016/03/09/world/asia/09reuters-northkorea-nuclear-kim.html

2016-03-10．聯合報．A13．國際．編譯王麗娟