South Korea’s defence minister claimed on Thursday that North Korea possesses around 80 to 120 nuclear weapons, disputing US president Donald Trump’s claim that Pyongyang has 57.The remarks were made by defence minister Ahn Gyu-back during a parliamentary session. According to news agency Reuters, the minister also said Seoul “cannot acknowledge” the 57-warhead estimate and stressed that South Korea cannot develop nuclear weapons or accept US tactical nuclear weapons.The remarks come amid renewed tensions over US-South Korean military drills, which Pyongyang has condemned as provocative.On Wednesday, US president Donald Trump said he planned to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and claimed that Pyongyang had 57 “very powerful nuclear weapons”.“The fact that I get along with him – that’s a good thing, not a bad thing. He has 57 very powerful nuclear weapons,” Trump said, adding, “They should have never allowed it. If I were president, I wouldn’t have allowed it. But he’s got them.”The claim differs from other estimates. In June, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) estimated that North Korea had “possibly assembled around 60 warheads, possesses enough fissile material to produce at least 30 more.”Meanwhile, North Korea has repeatedly vowed to strengthen its nuclear force “both in quality and quantity”. Meanwhile, Pyongyang has also denounced joint US-South Korean military drills as provocative.North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) had earlier reported that a ruling party military commission meeting had decided on measures aimed at “bolstering up the nuclear force both in quality and quantity”.Pyongyang has repeatedly described itself as an “irreversible” nuclear state and labelled South Korea its “most hostile” enemy. It has also accused US-Japan-South Korea military cooperation of turning into a nuclear alliance.The statements came as South Korea and the US conducted the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, which began on Monday and are scheduled to end on Friday, six days earlier than originally planned. The exercises were scaled back after Trump ordered the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” the 11-day drills, with the move announced by the South Korean and US militaries days later.North Korea, however, said the reduction did not change its view that the exercises were provocative, potentially complicating prospects for an early resumption of diplomacy between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. It has routinely condemned the exercises.Earlier in April, the International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi had said that North Korea had made a “very serious increase” in its nuclear weapons production capabilities. Grossi had cited increased activity at facilities including the five-megawatt reactor, reprocessing unit and light water reactor at Yongbyon.
