North Korea claims to have developed nuclear missile technology. Washington Post.

Kim Jong Un tours a indoor farm. Washington Post/AFP/ KNS/Getty.

North Korea claims that they have developed nuclear weapons small enough to fit onto a missile. Washington Post. North Korea has long been trying to build up its nuclear forces and if the claim is true the development will greatly increase the threat they pose. However, the reports are not confirmed and North Korea has in the past exaggerated their capabilities. North Korea also claimed to have tested a ballistic missile from a submarine, though those tests are widely believed to be a fabrication. Indeed, in one of the pictures released by the North Korean media showed a ship towing an underwater barge. Though the missile test was discredited, experts admit that the nuclear weapon development may be legitimate. If they have made a nuclear weapon small enough to fit a missile, they would be able to put it on their KN-08 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBMs), which has the capability of hitting the western United States. 

My Comment:

If this is true, it is a fairly disturbing development. Until this point, the nuclear threat from North Korea was minimal. They had no reliable way to deliver a nuclear attack. They don't have heavy bombers and even if they did they would be destroyed before they could attack. I guess they could try to smuggle one overseas but that would be a logistical nightmare and it would very hard to do during a war. That leaves ICBMs alone as the only practical way to deliver a nuke for the North Koreans.  

So do I think it is true? I'd bet on it. Yes, North Korea lies about everything. If Kim Jong Un said the sky was blue I wouldn't take his word on it. That being said, I don't think miniaturizing a nuke is beyond their capabilities. From what I understand, actually developing the nuclear weapon is the hard part. Once that is out of the way it is much easier to add it to an ICBM.

The good news is that North Korea's ICBM's are primitive at best. They haven't had a very good track record with missile technology and any nuclear attack would have a decent to strong chance of failing on the launchpad. They also need to do a lot more testing of their missiles before they can be a serious threat. 

So what would happen if the North Koreans decided to attack the West Coast? Well, like I said before, there is a very good chance they would fail completely. There is also a decent chance of their nuclear sites being destroyed before they could launch in the case of a sudden war. The United States at least has a chance of intercepting the missile as well. I'd say it would be more likely then not that even if they were dumb enough to try an attack, it would fail and fail hard.

But what if they pull off a successful attack? Well, that would be the utter end of North Korea. At the very least there would be a massive conventional attack. If one or more of our large western cities was destroyed the American people would be baying for blood. The capacity of North Korea to make war, or do anything for that matter, would evaporate within days. And that's assuming we don't nuke them back. That raises the question of how the Chinese and Russians would act when they found out that their neighbor was reduced to ash, but that's a question for another day. 

I don't think it will happen though. North Korea has always wanted nukes for the protection and prestige of the Kim family. Kim Jong Un knows that any attack on South Korea, Japan or America would be the end of him, his family and his country. He is many things, most of them bad, but he is not a fool. And only a fool would invite death in such an obvious way. And North Korea's enemies are also much less likely to attack them if they have nukes ready to launch.

The real danger is from either instability or proliferation. If North Korea falls apart on its own, it could very well turn its nukes on itself during a civil war. Though it would obviously be counter productive, it is possible that the Kim family, or whoever secures the nukes, could use them if the situation became desperate enough. North Korea seems to be having some internal struggles if the almost constant reports of high ranking officials are to believed. The country could very well fall apart. 

North Korea could also sell or give its nuclear technology to a third party, such as a rouge state or terrorist group. Though that could have devastating consequences as well for North Korea, they may be willing to risk it for the right price. With an arms race occurring in the Middle East between Iran and everyone else, there is a chance they could find a buyer...