TOKYO (Kyodo) -- North Korea may now possess nuclear weapons that can be used in an actual war, Japan's defense minister said Sunday following the North's sixth nuclear test a week ago.
The nuclear test explosion "was 160 kilotons, 10 times the force of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima" in 1945, Itsunori Onodera told reporters. "I can't help but think the country possesses nuclear weapons."
On whether to recognize that North Korea is a nuclear state, Onodera said, "It is up to the international community to judge. Apart from the issue of recognizing whether or not the country is a nuclear state, it has repeatedly conducted nuclear tests and has the capabilities to do so."
In a television program earlier Sunday, Onodera said he expects the next provocative action by North Korea to be a test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
He said it is possible a missile may be launched over Japan again, like the intermediate-range missile that North Korea fired over Hokkaido late last month.
"The capability which North Korea wants to acquire is an ICBM," he said.
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