--- title: North Korea nuclear weapons: Is It Time for U.S. to Attack? description: Pyongyang’s claim that it has shrunk a nuclear warhead brings it one step closer to striking the U.S. canonical: https://time.com/4252372/north-korea-nuclear-missile-attack/ author: Mark Thompson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-09T15:34:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:56:05.866Z article:section: Politics og:title: Is It Time to Attack North Korea? og:description: Pyongyang’s claim that it has shrunk a nuclear warhead brings it one step closer to striking the U.S. og:url: https://time.com/4252372/north-korea-nuclear-missile-attack/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbf04bced46d461e2/69888a48f887dc1d42e94f73/rts9zsc.jpg?branch=production&width=600&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 600 og:image:height: 338 og:image:alt: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meets scientists and technicians in the field of researches into nuclear weapons og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Is It Time to Attack North Korea? twitter:description: Pyongyang’s claim that it has shrunk a nuclear warhead brings it one step closer to striking the U.S. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbf04bced46d461e2/69888a48f887dc1d42e94f73/rts9zsc.jpg?branch=production&width=600&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Is It Time to Attack North Korea? > Sponsored content. 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There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=aa632fd3-19d2-489f-92cf-6c528740784a&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Inside North Korea's Nuclear Threats [Watch (HLS stream): Inside North Korea's Nuclear Threats](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/PI9fO6wi.m3u8) (1:53)  _Published 2015-12-11_ by [Mark Thompson](https://time.com/author/mark-thompson/) ## Mark Thompson Mar 9, 2016 3:34 PM UTC  North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meets his nation's nuclear scientists in an undated photo released Wednesday by the official North Korean news agency. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meets his nation's nuclear scientists in an undated photo released Wednesday by the official North Korean news agency. KCNA / REUTERS by [Mark Thompson](https://time.com/author/mark-thompson/) ## Mark Thompson Mar 9, 2016 3:34 PM UTC North Korea has been saying for years that it is striving to build a nuclear-tipped missile capable of attacking the U.S. It took a giant step toward that prize Wednesday when its official news agency [asserted](http://www.kcna.kp/kcna.user.special.getArticlePage.kcmsf;jsessionid=6C89B077E636BED28BDE054B9958EADB) the nation’s scientists had miniaturized an atomic warhead capable of riding atop a Pacific-spanning rocket. North Korean media showed leader Kim Jong-un standing before a beach ball-sized silver sphere purportedly representing a shrunken warhead. South Korea declared North Korea’s claim an “intolerable direct challenge” to the world. “The right to make a preemptive nuclear strike is by no means a monopoly of the U.S.,” the Korean Central News Agency said, paraphrasing Kim during his visit with North Korean engineers working on the project. “If the U.S. imperialists infringe upon the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s sovereignty and right to existence with nuclear weapons, it will never hesitate to make a preemptive nuclear strike at them.” Given North Korean secrecy, the claim is impossible to verify. But in light of North Korea’s inexorable push to develop a nuclear-carrying intercontinental ballistic missile—and the bizarre cult-of-personality dynasty that runs the Hermit Kingdom, starving millions and jailing thousands of political prisoners—the obvious question is simple: should the U.S. take the lead in taking down Pyongyang’s nuclear menace by force? Nuclear experts have been saying for years that North Korea might be able to shrink a nuclear warhead. That’s critical, because a smaller warhead translates into longer range. The non-profit Institute for Science and International Security [said](http://isis-online.org/isis-reports/detail/isis-statement-on-north-korean-nuclear-test/) in 2013 that North Korea still would need “to conduct missile flight tests with a re-entry vehicle and mock warhead, increase the explosive yield of the warhead, possibly requiring its further miniaturization, and improve the operational reliability of the warhead and missile” to be sure its missile would work. While that may be the path followed by most nations, North Korea is hardly a normal country. Corner-cutting, especially if the nation perceives itself as threatened, could accelerate that process. With the U.S. and South Korea now conducting a huge military exercise, and new sanctions recently imposed on North Korea, it’s no wonder that Pyongyang is feeling beleaguered. Only hours after North Korea announced its alleged miniaturization breakthrough, a U.S. artillery brigade launched a barrage of rockets close to the border town of Cheorwon, something bound to jangle North Korean nerves even more. The U.S. has built a missile shield in Alaska and California dedicated to the threat posed by North Korean rockets. The Pentagon voiced confidence Tuesday in its ability to down any incoming North Korean warheads. “The United States has not seen North Korea demonstrate a capability to miniaturize a warhead,” Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said shortly before the North Korean claim that it had done so. “We still feel confident that we can deter and respond to a missile threat from North Korea.” Taking out North Korea’s two major nuclear sites with air strikes would be dangerous but probably not too difficult, U.S. officials say. The possibility of North Korean retaliation against Seoul, South Korea’s capital of 10 million and only 35 miles from North Korea, would be a complicating factor, they concede. Yet the more advanced North Korea’s nuclear [arsenal](http://www.nti.org/learn/countries/north-korea/nuclear/) becomes, the tougher it will be to dismantle peacefully. Its slow but steady progress on the nuclear front is something that the U.S. and the rest of the world has been unable to stop. “Our policy right along,” Defense Secretary William Perry [told](http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1211527,00.html) TIME in his flying stateroom over the Atlantic 22 years ago, “has been oriented to try to keep North Korea from getting a significant nuclear-weapon capability.” That effort has failed. In fact, in 2006, Perry and Ashton Carter—the current defense secretary—[argued](http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1211527,00.html) that the U.S. should attack a North Korean missile before it could be launched. The U.S. didn’t attack, and the missile test failed. Somewhere down the road, Americans might not be so lucky. ## Transcript [00:00] I am pleased that the United States and North Korea [00:03] yesterday reached agreement on the text of a [00:06] framework document on North Korea's nuclear [00:08] program. This agreement will help to achieve a long [00:12] standing and vital American objective, an end to the [00:16] threat of nuclear proliferation on the Korean peninsula. [00:22] It's 13 years since the collapse of the [00:27] agreement between the United States and North [00:30] Korea, the nuclearized North Korea. They've [00:34] been working on building nuclear weapons since the [00:37] late 1980s. Indeed, [00:42] North Korea has been interested in nuclear weapons [00:45] for many years, because during the Korean War, the [00:48] US threatened to use nuclear weapons to end the war. [00:53] So North Korea, I believe, has been thinking of this [00:56] mainly as defensive weapons to defend themselves [01:00] against The world's only superpower and it's ally. [01:03] [ MUSIC ] Well, under the [01:07] worse case scenario, North Korea could have as many [01:11] as 100 nuclear weapons by 2020. The [01:15] issue there is whether North Korea can actually deliver [01:20] those weapons. To other countries, they would need [01:23] ballistic missiles to that. They [01:28] do have up to a 1, 000 missiles that can deliver [01:32] nuclear weapons to target any countries in the [01:36] region. [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] [01:41] Whether they can do that in terms of. Delivering [01:44] weapon to the United States is, I think, an open [01:47] question. 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