North Korea wants to “bolster its nuclear deterrent” against threats from the United States and other nations. Experts believe that it is bluffing because it is decades away from developing an H-bomb.

Seoul (AsiaNews/Agencies) – North Korea said it would strengthen its nuclear arsenal as a deterrent against hostile nations, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reports in a statement that appears to be a response to US President Barack Obama who at the end of the G20 summit in Toronto said he was “blunt” with Chinese President Hu Jintao about North Korea’s “belligerent behaviour that is unacceptable to the international community”.

Pyongyang plans to boost its nuclear arsenal in the face of what it believes to be US threats because recently declassified documents indicate that the United States "has always watched for a chance to use nuclear weapons" against the North, a foreign ministry spokesman said.

"Historical facts prove that the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) was quite right when it made a decision to react to nukes with a nuclear deterrent," KCNA said in a report. In fact, "The recent disturbing development on the Korean Peninsula underscores the need for the DPRK to bolster its nuclear deterrent in a newly developed way to cope with the US persistent hostile policy toward the DPRK and military threat toward it."

Pyongyang has developed a nuclear weapons programme using plutonium and uranium. According to a recent announcement, it has also conducted a nuclear fusion reaction, a process that can be used in making a hydrogen bomb.

Experts believe however that the North Korean claim is a bluff; in their view, Pyongyang is decades away from developing and marketing nuclear fusion technology.

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