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Kim's 'Itchy finger'

Paranoid tyrant Kim Jong-un looking for any excuse to launch nukes at enemies

Tubby tyrant WILL 'strike first' as he demands US takes him seriously

NORTH Korea's paranoid tyrant Kim Jong-un has an "itchy finger" and is looking for any excuse to try out his ever-expanding nuclear arsenal for real, say experts.

They say unlike Saddam or Gaddafi he will not wait to be invaded and will strike first by targeting South Korea, Japan and US military installations in the region.

 Paranoid Kim 'will strike first' if he fears his country is threatened in any way
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Paranoid Kim 'will strike first' if he fears his country is threatened in any wayCredit: AP:Associated Press
 Experts say the North Koreans now have the technology to fix a nuke warhead to a missile
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Experts say the North Koreans now have the technology to fix a nuke warhead to a missileCredit: AP:Associated Press

Tension in the region is at an all-time high after South Korea revealed it has a plan to annihilate the North Korean capital if it shows any signs of mounting a nuclear attack.

A military source said every part of Pyongyang "will be completely destroyed by ballistic missiles and high-explosives shells".

Sources in the region fear Kim will see this threat as just the excuse he needs to show off his rogue nation's new military might.

“I don’t think we have understood their strategy. It is to deter and repel an invasion. So Kim Jong-un is not going to just sit there like Saddam or Gaddafi and watch us coming," said Jeffrey Lewis of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies.

“They are planning to go nuclear to stop us putting forces in the region. They will hit the ports where our troops would be massing, thinking that we would be shocked into stopping.”

North Korea is today demanding the US recognise it as a “legitimate nuclear weapons state” as a Pyongyang spokesman called the threat of further sanctions from "laughable."

“Obama is trying hard to deny the DPRK’s [North Korea’s] strategic position as a legitimate nuclear weapons state but it is as foolish an act as trying to eclipse the sun with a palm,” said a foreign ministry spokesman quoted by the official KCNA news agency.

The news comes as it was revealed his scientists HAVE finally developed a nuclear warhead compact enough to put on a missile.

North Korea’s fifth nuclear test on Friday confirms growing fears in the international community that the regime’s nuclear aspirations reach much further than once assumed.

Deluded Kim is building a sizeable arsenal designed to be used immediately if he believes his rule is under any kind of threat.

Until recently it was thought the North’s nuclear programme was nothing more than a bargaining chip for economic and diplomatic benefits.

However the pace of nuclear and missile testing has accelerated, to the point where some experts now believe the country’s scientists have developed a nuclear warhead small enough to put on a missile.

“It is likely now that North Korea could at this point put a nuclear warhead on a short- or medium-range missile which could reach South Korea, Japan and US military installations in the region,” said Kelsey Davenport, the director for non-proliferation policy at the Arms Control Association.

Friday’s test comes soon after a series of missile breakthroughs, with the launch of a two-stage, solid-fuelled and submarine-launched missile in August and the test of three new aluminium-bodied versions of Scud missiles with a 1,000km range.

“All this activity is aimed at expanding the size of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal and expanding its delivery options,” Davenport said.

 Kim is reported to be desperate to show off his nuclear might
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Kim is reported to be desperate to show off his nuclear mightCredit: AP:Associated Press
 A South Korean army's K1 tank moves near the border with North Korea over the weekend
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A South Korean army's K1 tank moves near the border with North Korea over the weekendCredit: Getty Images

“It is taking steps to quality-improve its missiles, using solid fuel so they can be deployed more quickly, and extending their range. The trajectory points to a growing North Korean nuclear threat and the next US administration will have to prioritise that threat.”

Jeffrey Lewis added Friday’s apparently blast WAS of an assembled warhead, shaped for delivery by a missile.

“I wouldn’t call this miniaturised. I would call it a compact device, small enough to go on a missile. I think they used both plutonium and highly enriched uranium so that they can stretch their plutonium stockpile and get a 20 to 30 kiloton yield and build more weapons than we thought,” Lewis told the .

But North Korea's obsession with nuclear weapons could backfire and spark an arms race in the region.

“The test will exacerbate regional tensions and fuel desires for countervailing force. More South Koreans will want nuclear weapons of their own and more Japanese will want offensive strike capabilities,” said Mark Fitzpatrick, executive director of the International Institute of Strategic Studies.

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