North Korea Ramps Up Nuclear Readiness

04:57

March 04, 2016

People watch a TV news program showing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, March 3, 2016. North Korea fired several short-range projectiles into the sea off its east coast Thursday, Seoul officials said, just hours after the U.N. Security Council approved the toughest sanctions on Pyongyang in two decades for its recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch. The screen reads "Sanction on the North Korea." (Ahn Young-joon/AP)

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un says his country's nuclear weapons should be ready for use "at any time." State media reports he has told military leaders that North Korea's military posture would be revised to be ready to launch pre-emptive strikes.

This is the latest blast of nuclear rhetoric from Kim, but it's not totally clear how advanced North Korea's nuclear weapons program really is. Here & Now's Peter O'Dowd asks security analyst Jim Walsh about that and what this new declaration from Kim really signifies.

Guest

Jim Walsh, Here & Now security analyst and a research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Security Studies Program. He tweets @DrJimWalshMIT.

This segment aired on March 4, 2016.