A high ranking South Korean military official said on Wednesday that he believes that North Korea is working on an atomic warhead, which would enable it to put nuclear weapons on missiles and, by doing so, strike against targets in other countries such as its Korean neighbor to the south.

Gen Kim Tae-young told a Parliamentary committee that he believes North Korea has enough plutonium to make six or seven warheads. 

 At this moment, it is unknown whether North Korea has already succeeded in developing a warhead, he added.

“I understand that North Korea is working to develop a small nuclear warhead which can be loaded into a missile,” Gen Kim Tae-Young was quoted by South Korean media as saying.

“As I said earlier, it is certain that North Korea possess plutonium. It is certain the North has enough plutonium to make six to seven nuclear weapons, but it is not clear whether it has produced nuclear weapons,” he said.

Tae-Young is the chair of South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff. As such, his words should be taken serious.

According to many experts, hardliners in the North’s government were able to increase their power in recent months after the North’s leader Kim Jong-Il suffered a stroke. Developing atomic warheads would be a project high up on the agenda of these hawkish military officers and bureaucrats.

North Korea is facing tremendous problems, in virtually every area. It’s economy collapsed in the 1990s, its people are going hungry, there is little to no freedom for the government does not merely try to control the way people behave but also how and what they think, and it has been isolated completely in recent years and decades. Even its historical ally China has distanced itself from its North Korean communist cousin.

Many hardliners in North Korea believe that the best way to improve the domestic situation is by blackmailing the West, Japan, South Korea and China, none of whom are looking forward to a nuclear armed North Korea nor to a total collapse of government power in that country. As a result, they have often given in to the North’s blackmail throughout the years.

Others in North Korea, however, believe that cooperation with the international community is best, believing that good actions may be rewarded financially.

In the last few years these less hawkish officials gained in influence. Nonetheless, the hardliners seem to have gained influence and power in the last weeks and months, making it difficult to predict what the country’s policies will be going forward.