North Korea has ‘up to 60 nuclear weapons’

A top South Korean official has told MPS that North Korea is estimated to have up to 60 nuclear weapons.

In Seoul’s first public comment about the size of the North’s secrecyclouded weapons arsenal, unification minister Cho Myoung-gyon told parliament the estimates range from 20 bombs to as many as 60.

He was responding to a question by an MP, saying the information came from the intelligence authorities.

Mr Cho may have unintentionally revealed the information. His ministry said the comments did not mean that South Korea would accept North Korea as a nuclear state, suggesting Seoul’s diplomatic efforts to rid the North of its nuclear programme would continue. The North entered talks with the United States and South Korea earlier this year, saying it is willing to negotiate away its advancing nuclear arsenal. Nuclear diplomacy later stalled due to suspicions over how sincere North Korea is about its disarmament pledge.