North Korea Threatens U.S. With 'Improved' Nuclear Program

05:13

September 15, 2015

This undated photo released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on May 27, 2013 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un providing a field guidance to the Masik Pass Skiing Ground, under construction by the Korean People's Army. (KCNA via KNS/AFP/Getty Images)

North Korea's state-run news agency is reporting that the country's main nuclear facility has resumed normal operations and is improving its nuclear weapons in "quality and quantity."

The Yongbyon reactor was shut down in 2007 as part of a disarmament agreement, but Pyongyang had vowed to restart it in 2013, after a third nuclear test raised tensions in the region.

The news agency quoted the director of its atomic agency as saying "If the U.S. and other hostile forces persistently seek their reckless hostile policy towards the DPRK and behave mischievously, the DPRK is fully ready to cope with them with nuclear weapons any time."

Jim Walsh of MIT's Security Studies Program discusses the threats and North Korea's nuclear capability with Here & Now's Peter O'Dowd.

Guests

Jim Walsh, Here & Now security analyst, an expert in international security at MIT’s Security Studies Program. He tweets @DrJimWalshMIT.

This segment aired on September 15, 2015.