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.