N Korea leader Kim Jong-un poses beside possible nuclear warhead mock-up

North Korea has successfully miniaturised nuclear warheads which can be mounted on ballistic missiles, according to the repressive regime’s leader, Kim Jong-Un. State media reports suggest Kim has called for his military to be on standby to mount pre-emptive attacks against South Korea and the US - and be prepared to use nuclear weapons. The North’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper carried photos on its front page that showed Kim and nuclear scientists standing beside what outside analysts say appears to be the model warhead — a small, silverish globe presented on a low table in a hangar with a ballistic missile or a model ballistic missile in the background.

It is obviously a model because Kim and the others in the photos would not stand near it because of concerns of radioactive leaks if it was a real warhead.

Whang Joo-ho of Kyung Hee University in South Korea

The inflammatory remarks came after new sanctions were imposed on North Korea by the United Nations. Those new economic restrictions were in response to the country’s fourth nuclear test in January, when officials claimed they had set off a miniaturised hydrogen bomb, and the launch of a long-range rocket last month. Nuclear experts who have examined the photograph told the Associated Press agency that it was obviously a model as none of those standing near it were wearing protective clothing.

Korea miniature