On the heels of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s death, outside experts seem more uncertain than ever about who retains control over the hermit nation’s nuclear weapons or authority for their potential use.
Pyongyang is estimated as having enough fissionable material for fewer than 10 warheads, though no evidence has emerged to date that it has made any weapons operational by mating them with bombs or ballistic missiles. North Korea has said that its nuclear arms are for deterrence.
By some accounts, Kim, 69, was likely to have played a unique role over the disposition of the North’s atomic arms, both day-to-day and under any imagined combat scenario.
