Fresh Guess at N.Korea's Nuclear Warheads Offered

A private U.S. think tank has offered yet another guess at the number of nuclear warheads North Korea might possess and has alighted on 20.

In a report released last week, the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments estimates that North Korea is the world's eighth nuclear-armed state after the U.S., Russia, China, the U.K., France, Pakistan, and India. Israel, which has a substantial nuclear arsenal but denies it, was excluded from the count.

The center said North Korea "has produced enough material for 30-60 warheads, but has probably only assembled 10-20 warheads."

Grouping nuclear powers into three tiers, the center said the U.S. and Russia have 3,800 and 4,490 nuclear warheads, which make them major powers, while those with 130 to 300 rank in the middle.

But it added, "It would not take much for North Korea to develop an arsenal comparable in size to the lower end of the middle tier."

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