The Weapon Gap: Why North Korea May Not Have What It Claims (opens in new tab)

The consensus view is settled, or so it appears. North Korea is a nuclear-armed state. It has conducted six underground tests, paraded warheads on mobile launchers, and fired ICBMs into the Pacific. Western intelligence agencies treat Pyongyang’s nuclear capability as an established fact, and the broader policy world has followed. To question this consensus is to risk sounding naive.