North Korea's Foreign Ministry says Pyongyang's nuclear capabilities have come close to reaching a state of equilibrium with the United States. Speaking to Sputnik, Russian observers said that although that may be somewhat of an overstatement, Pyongyang is right to claim that it has the ability to "strike at the United States, APA reports quoting Sputnik.
Speaking at a conference on nuclear non-proliferation in Moscow on Friday, Choe Son-hui, director of the North Korean Foreign Ministry's North American Department, said that North Korea was coming close to matching the US nuclear potential.
"Our ultimate goal is to achieve a balance with the United States, so they do not dare talk about any military actions against the DPRK," the diplomat noted. Choe added that nuclear weapons capability is a matter of "life and death" for Pyongyang, and that the country has no plans to negotiate with Washington on its nuclear status.
"The current situation strengthens us in our understanding that we need nuclear weapons in order to repel a possible attack," she stressed, adding that North Korea lives under the "constant nuclear threat from the US." At the same time, the US is the only country being actively targeted by North Korea's nuclear capabilities, the diplomat said.
Commenting on Cho's remarks, Evgeny Kim, a senior researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Center for Korean Studies, told Sputnik that while Pyongyang may be exaggerating with its claim that it is close to reaching parity with US military strength, it can deal the superpower serious damage in the event of war.
"Of course, there is some exaggeration here, because North Korea cannot achieve parity with the US in nuclear-armed missile technology, not now or in the next decade," Kim said. "First, they do not have the kind of delivery means that the US does…Second, they do not have as many nuclear warheads as the US. North Korea has tested nuclear warheads, but isn't mass producing them. They will probably be able to start mass production sometime in the next two or three years."
"But they are correct in the sense that they have capabilities that could cause some damage to US military power," Kim added. "For example, the USS Ronald Reagan-led carrier group is located in the Sea of Japan. North Korea could, using all the capabilities of its missile technology, destroy this carrier. In this sense, Pyongyang is right to say that they are capable of inflicting a blow against the United States."
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