'N Korea soon may have 8 nukes'
2003-07-22 07:53
Washington - North Korea may have as many as eight nuclear weapons by the end of the year, if its nuclear programme is not reversed, a former US defence secretary predicted on Monday.
"If North Korea continues on its present course, by the end of the year, I think we'll have about eight nuclear weapons, and next year will be in serial production of about five to ten nuclear weapon a year," said William Perry, who also served as special envoy to North Korea during the administration of former president Bill Clinton.
Perry, who caused a stir here last week by warning that Washington and Pyongyang could be at war as early as this year, said the hermit nation might soon have enough nuclear weapons to target Japan and South Korea, while offering leftover plutonium for sale to the highest bidder.
"I consider that this poses an unacceptable risk to our security," said the former defence secretary.
"There are plenty of bidders out there willing to bid for it. And, if any of the terror groups are willing to get nuclear weapons or are able to get that plutonium, then we could see it end up in an American city."
Perry also took an implicit swipe at President George W Bush's national missile defence programme that called for deploying missile interceptors around the world in order to shoot down missiles fired at the United States and its allies by rogue nations like North Korea and Iran.
He said he did not see a danger coming from North Korean missiles fired at the United States, but rather from possible North Korean sales of missile materials.
- AFX