N. Korea Building Bombs, Its Envoy Says

A top North Korean official said Wednesday that his government was building more nuclear bombs and implied that it was able to mount nuclear warheads on its missiles.

Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan, the country’s top envoy to stalled nuclear disarmament talks, made the comments during a visit to North Korea by ABC News.

“I should say that we have enough nuclear bombs to defend against a U.S. attack. As for specifically how many we have, that is a secret,” Kim said, according to a transcript. Asked if the North was building more bombs, Kim responded, “Yes.”

Kim declined to specify whether North Korea’s long-range missiles could reach U.S. targets. But he implied that the North was able to mount nuclear warheads on its missiles.

“Our scientists have the knowledge, comparable to other scientists around the world,” Kim said.

In April, Vice Adm. Lowell E. Jacoby, head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said the U.S. believed that North Korea had the ability to arm a missile with a nuclear device. But some Western experts expressed doubt that Pyongyang possessed the technical know-how.