North Korea has revealed small nuclear warheads, which it says can be fitted on to short-range missiles.
The North has long claimed it has tactical nuclear weapons, capable of hitting targets in South Korea.
But the photos published in its state newspaper on Tuesday are the first time it has provided evidence.
However, it is impossible to verify whether they are the real deal. Until North Korea tests one of these devices, we are left guessing.
Pyongyang has spent the past fortnight firing a barrage of what it says are nuclear-capable weapons, while simulating nuclear attacks on Seoul.
Admittedly it is hard to keep track of North Korea’s missile launches these days. The tests in isolation no longer generate the headlines they used to, but if we look at them all together there is much we can learn.
North Korea says it is punishing the US and South Korea for holding their largest military drills in years. The allies have been practising how to defeat the North in the event of an attack. This is not a scenario its leader Kim Jong Un relishes.
Only this is not a typical North Korean protest. In the past it has responded to such drills by firing off a mix of short, medium, and long-range missiles, and perhaps some artillery shells.
This time, over the course of two weeks, Pyongyang has launched its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile, which can reach anywhere on the US mainland, in theory.
It has fired missiles from a submarine, and from what appears to be an underground silo. Its military has simulated a nuclear attack on a South Korean airfield.
Source: bbc.com
