North Korea could have as many as 100 nukes in just five years if it continues expanding its nuclear program, U.S. researchers warned on Tuesday.
The forecast is based on a 15-month study conducted by the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security and researchers at John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, who examined current weapons technology and the nuclear programs of countries like Israel, Pakistan, India and China, reported The Associated Press.
The school's U.S.-Korea Institute said that North Korea has made instrumental progress in its weapons programs over the past five years, and those programs "appear posed for significant expansion over the next five years, presenting a serious challenge to the United States, Northeast Asia and the international community," reported AP.
The analysis by the Institute for Science and International Security estimates that the rogue nation currently has between 10 and 16 nuclear weapons, some plutonium-based and others uranium-based.
The group said that under a "minimal growth" scenario, North Korea would have 20 weapons. But if Pyongyang accelerates nuclear production and makes significant breakthroughs in weapon designs, researchers believe it could accumulate 100 weapons with an average yield of 20 kilotons.
John Hopkins researcher Joel Wit told Bloomberg that under his moderate projection, Pyongyang will have 50 bombs by 2020.
Despite popular opinion, the group said that North Korea already has miniaturized weapons capable of being mounted on intercontinental missiles.
Pyongyang has not said how many nukes it has, and it conducted its third nuclear test in Feb. 2013. Since then, it has repeatedly threatened to conduct more tests in an attempt to ward off what it calls Western aggression.
World powers have been intermittently involved in denuclearization talks with the country to little avail, but South Korea's principle negotiator Hwang Joon-kook said on Tuesday that five countries that have engaged North Korea collectively in the past had agreed to pursue "exploratory talks."
"The exploratory discussions are meant to notify North Korea about the five parties' consensus for restarting the six-party talks and to gauge North Korea's seriousness about engaging in a sincere dialogue on denuclearization," a South Korean Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said Wednesday, reported The Wall Street Journal,
Tensions are expected to rise on the Korean peninsula as the U.S. and South Korea prepare to start their annual joint military exercises next week, involving thousands of troops and state of the art military equipment, CNN reports.
Each year, North Korea protests the drills, calling them offensive and provocative in nature.
