Aug. 8 (UPI) — North Korea has made a nuclear warhead small enough to fit on a missile, a U.S. intelligence analysis indicates.
Unnamed U.S. officials told The Washington Post and NBC News that the Defense Intelligence Agency completed the analysis in July.
“The IC [intelligence community] assesses North Korea has produced nuclear weapons for ballistic missile delivery, to include delivery by ICBM-class missiles,” the assessment states, as read to The Post.
The report deepens the military threat North Korea poses. It comes after the country launched an improved ballistic missile with intercontinental range in July, Pyongyang’s second missile launch in less than a month.
Analysts believed North Korea was years from miniaturizing a nuclear warhead, a technically demanding feat. It’s unclear whether North Korea has successfully tested the new design, though last year Kim Jong Un‘s regime declared it had.
Earlier this month, the United States and the United Nations increased sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear activity.
On Tuesday, North Korea said it would take “physical action” in reaction to new U.N. sanctions.
“Packs of wolves are coming in attack to strangle a nation,” a statement from Pyongyang carried by state-run Korean Central News Agency said. “They should be mindful that [North Korea’s] strategic steps accompanied by physical action will be taken mercilessly with the mobilization of all its national strength.”
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump warned North Korea not to make any more threats against the United States. In July, North Korea said it would “strike a merciless blow” at the United States if Washington ever attempted to remove Kim from power.
“They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen. He has been very threatening beyond a normal state and as I said they will be met with fire and fury and frankly power the likes of which this world has never seen before,” Trump said from his golf club in Bedminster, N.J.
Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., said the news Tuesday “increases the urgency of the time sensitivity” of U.S. efforts to address North Korea’s nuclear threat.
“Assuming everything is true, including that intelligence assessment both existing and everything being accurate, there are still important unknowns,” he told CNN.
Earlier Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urged Southeast Asian countries to isolate North Korea both economically and diplomatically.
