海角大神

Amid claims and counterclaims between North Korea and the Pentagon about whether the regime can miniaturize nuclear weapons to fit atop a missile, North Korea has scotched a rare visit by the UN's top official.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon was to visit the Kaesong industrial park on a peace mission tomorrow that would have made him the first UN chief to visit the North in more than two decades.

The ultra-secretive North gave no reason for the canceled visit by Mr. Ban, a fellow Korean. But the move underscores the isolation of dictator Kim Jong-un who took power in 2012 after the death of his father Kim Jong-il.聽

Earlier this month Mr. Kim canceled his own visit to Moscow for a World War II anniversary widely anticipated as his first trip abroad as leader.

Korea-watchers in Seoul and Washington remain concerned about Kim鈥檚 nuclear program, his isolation, and by reports of brutal behavior as he continues to consolidate power at home.

South Korean intelligence reported that Kim, who is widely thought to have killed his influential uncle in the fall of 2013, this spring had North Korea鈥檚 defense minister executed with an anti-aircraft gun.

North Korea said in a statement carried by its official news agency that it was capable of producing a nuclear warhead that could fit on a ballistic missile with a range that included the continental United States. It recently boasted of a successful submarine missile test.聽

However, Pentagon officials now say the photographs of a missile allegedly fired from a North Korean submarine were doctored and that the regime had exaggerated its claims to have made the technical leap allowing for nuclear submarine-launched missiles.

鈥淭hey have not gotten as far as their clever video editors and spinmeisters would have us believe,鈥� said Admiral James Winnefield in Washington in a Reuters report, adding that Pyongyang is 鈥渕any years鈥� away from such technology.

Some analysts argue the missile launch more likely took place from an underwater barge than a submarine.

Marches and turtles

Such reports as usual mingle with a steady stream of stories about Kim, ranging from a new hair style to an unusual proposed march this Sunday by women's peace groups led by US feminist Gloria Steinem.聽

This week, for example, North Korea鈥檚 leader visited a turtle farm where he expressed anger that managers had not made progress breeding lobsters, according to UPI.

The Associated Press reports that Ms. Steinem and two Nobel laureates have arrived in Pyongyang for the peace march across the Demilitarized Zone on Sunday. In a statement, the group said it had "...prioritized reunification of families, equity and justice for women living on both sides of the DMZ and a peaceful solution to the only remaining Cold War division."聽

Mairead Maguire and Leymah Gbowee, peace laureates from Ireland and Liberia, are among the 30 participants.聽

Meanwhile, a variety of US, Chinese, and South Korean intelligence sources now estimate that North Korea may have as many as 20 nuclear weapons. Last month a former South Korean official told the Monitor that the North had 鈥渦p to 20鈥� atomic devices. And while Iran has dominated Western discussions on nuclear proliferation, North Korea has tested at least two devices and has a full-fledged program.聽

The Wall Street Journal recently described a meeting in February between Chinese and US intelligence officials that disclosed more details about the North's program. It quoted Stanford physicist Sigfried Hecker, saying that 鈥淪ome eight, nine, or 10 years ago, they had the bomb but not much of a nuclear arsenal...I had hoped they wouldn鈥檛 go in this direction, but that鈥檚 what happened in the past five years.鈥�

CNN quotes former UN nuclear inspector David Albright who says if North Korea perfected submarine-launched missiles, that would present a threat. But it also quotes former George W. Bush administration official Victor Cha saying that eventually the North鈥檚 program could still destabilize the peninsula.

The Monitor wrote last month that: