Seoul-Pyongyang mutual barbs may not last

Significance

Meanwhile, Kim Yong-hyun has become the first sitting South Korean defence minister publicly to voice support for nuclear weapons acquisition. Both sides have engaged in bellicose rhetoric but conflict has remained low-level.

Impacts

• The new photos show progress in producing HEU, likely at a second site; that is probably now Pyongyang's main source of fissile materials.
• Any change in North Korea’s phraseology regarding the South would cause friction with Beijing.
• The North’s HEU disclosure, and the South’s comments on nuclear arms and unification are aimed at Washington as much as each other.