N. Korea could miniaturize nuke warhead if it conducts 3rd nuke test: U.S. scientist

SEOUL, Dec. 14 (Yonhap) -- North Korea will be able to master the technology needed to put a nuclear warhead atop a missile if the communist regime carries out a third nuclear test, a prominent U.S. scientist warned Wednesday.

Siegfried Hecker, who was shown the North's modern uranium enrichment facility during a visit to the country in November last year, urged regional powers to stop Pyongyang from staging another nuclear test and more missile tests.

North Korea conducted two nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009 and is believed to have enough plutonium for at least a half-dozen nuclear bombs. But the Stanford University professor and other experts said North Korea has yet to master the miniaturization technology to mount a nuclear warhead on a missile.

"If North Korea conducts a third nuclear test, that will be very risky," Hecker told a forum in Seoul. "If another of the North's nuclear tests is successful, I believe that North Korea will succeed in the necessary miniaturization within a few years.

"It is critical at this point to bring Pyongyang back to the table to stop expanding its nuclear weapons programs," Hecker said. "The most urgent step is to stop it from conducting another nuclear test and more missile tests."

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