“We usually estimate that there are about 80–120,” Ahn Gyu-back told lawmakers, declining to provide a specific number.
He said that Seoul continues to oppose the official recognition of North Korea as a nuclear-armed state.
On Wednesday, D. Trump said he would meet later this year with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and gave an unusually precise estimate that Pyongyang now has 57 “very powerful” nuclear weapons.
“He has 57 very powerful nuclear weapons. That should never have been allowed (…) If I were president, I would not have allowed that,” Trump told reporters at the White House, referring to the North Korean leader.
“But he has them. I get along very well with him. I cannot allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. Also, I know Kim Jong Un very well and everything will be fine with him,” he added.
Although the US acknowledges that Pyongyang has nuclear weapons, it does not officially recognize North Korea as a nuclear state, so it is unusual for the president to publicly provide such a specific estimate of its stockpile.
However, Trump’s hint about 57 North Korean nuclear weapons aligns with previous US government and think tank estimates that Pyongyang has an arsenal of 50–60 weapons.
When asked if Washington had “given in” on North Korea’s nuclear disarmament, South Korean Minister Ahn Gyu-back said he did not think so.
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