SEOUL, Dec. 25 (Yonhap) -- North Korea may detonate a third nuclear device and provoke border clashes in the future that could escalate tension on the Korean Peninsula, a report by a state-run think tank said Friday.| Whatever would we do without think tanks ... |
"Such a step could highlight that North Korea is a nuclear power," the report said. It added that North Korea might even launch an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching U.S. territories in the Pacific and the western coast of North America.
The communist country tested its first nuclear weapon in October 2006 and another more powerful device on May 25. The explosion that took place earlier in the year is estimated to have had a yield five times that of the 2006 device.
"The recent explosion has been estimated to have had a 4-kiloton yield, indicating that the North has made headway in developing an operational nuclear weapon," the latest findings said.
KIDA said that if the international community starts to accept the North as a nuclear power, this can cause public opinion in South Korea to move toward building up its own nuclear deterrent capabilities.
| A happy thought for the Chinese. Perhaps even the Japanese will reconsider their own lack of nuclear weapons ... |
| It would be called 'war' ... |
KIDA, meanwhile said that although clashes along the 248-kilometer demilitarized zone could take place, such events will probably be short firefights between troops, while air-to-air combat is not likely due to the North's weak Air Force assets.