North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspects drills by the Korean People's Army navy at an undisclosed location on North Korea's east coast on March 25 in a photo from the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
Pyongyang probably has a nuclear warhead small enough to fit on a ballistic missile, according to the US Defense Intelligence Agency.
However, the Agency has noted that the weapon would have “low reliability.”
According to The Washington Post, the reference to reliability presumably reflected concerns about the accuracy of the ballistic missiles in North Korea’s arsenal as well as the technical difficulties of miniaturizing nuclear devices.
James R. Clapper, the director of national intelligence, issued a statement Thursday night saying the DIA assessment was not the consensus of the US intelligence community.
“North Korea has not yet demonstrated the full range of capabilities necessary for a nuclear armed missile,” he said, as cited by The Washington Post.
South Korea's Defence Ministry maintained it did not believe North Korea could mount a nuclear warhead on a missile.