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North Korea Could Potentially Have Up To 242 Nuclear Weapons, Dozens Of ICBMs By 2027, Report Claims

© AP Photo / Ha Kyung-min/NewsisThe nuclear-powered submarine USS Michigan approaches a naval base in Busan, South Korea, amid North Korea's nuclear and missile provocations
The nuclear-powered submarine USS Michigan approaches a naval base in Busan, South Korea, amid North Korea's nuclear and missile provocations  - Sputnik International, 1920, 13.04.2021
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A report has urged "serious" considerations to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea as well as further measures to limit Pyongyang's potential to launch nuclear strikes.

North Korea has been accused of potentially having up to 242 nuclear weapons and roughly dozens of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) in 2027, a report from the Asan Institute for Policy Studies and Rand Corp found on Tuesday.

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The joint report called for South Korea and the United States to consider "all options" to counter the perceived threats.

The news comes after a Yonhap news agency report alleged North Korea had relocated a submarine site for testing ballistic missiles.

"It is estimated that the total number of North Korea's nuclear weapons by 2027 would be between 151 and 242, in addition to tens of mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles," the report alleged.

Estimates for the report were based on plutonium and highly enriched uranium (HEU), among others, allegedly produced by North Korea, as well as US intelligence data and analysts.

"We estimate North Korea's number of nuclear weapons from 2017 through 2027, with the starting value of 30 to 60 nuclear weapons in 2017, with one to two plutonium weapons added by 2020, and with the numbers growing by either 12 weapons per year or 18 weapons per year," the report read.

But the report admitted there were "vast uncertainties" in Pyongyang's inventory, adding the report was not based on real production numbers or knowledge of centrifuges to produce HEU.

The report added the North could potentially advance its nuclear weapon capability and launch attacks in "much more coercive and diverse ways".

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It also added that Washington and Seoul should work to deploy strategic nuclear weapons across South Korea to counter the North, as well as urging allied nations to consider "all options" to strike Pyongyang.

"The United States could also threaten North Korea that if it crosses an ICBM or nuclear weapon inventory threshold, or both, the United States will station in the ROK eight to ten tactical nuclear weapons capable of destroying deep underground facilities," the report added.

The US should also delay transfers of wartime operational control from Washington to Seoul unless the former could provision the nuclear weapons backing with the latter, the report said.

"Unlike in a conventional conflict, in a nuclear conflict, the ROK is not ready to take the principal role in confronting North Korea, especially in the initial stage of a contingency. This is a key weakness that could lead the North Koreans to interpret the OPCON transition as a sign of faltering U.S. commitment to the defense of the ROK," it noted.

The news comes just days after North Korean supreme leader Kim Jeong-Un Kim called on the Worker's Party of Korea to "further strengthen the nuclear war deterrent" and outlining a fresh five-year economic plan.

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