North Korea now has missile-ready miniature nuclear warheads: report

Intelligence officials have concluded that the North Korean government has developed miniature nuclear warheads that are capable of being used in the country's missiles.

The Washington Post reports that North Korea's development of the warheads has gotten the country past "a key threshold on the path to becoming a full-fledged nuclear power."

North Korea's nuclear weapons program has advanced by leaps and bounds over the past several months, as the country has launched successful tests of missiles this year that experts believe have intercontinental range.

"What initially looked like a slow-motion Cuban missile crisis is now looking more like the Manhattan Project, just barreling along," Robert Litwak, a nonproliferation expert at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, tells the Post. "There’s a sense of urgency behind the program that is new to the Kim Jong Un era."