North Korea has reportedly claimed that it has the technology to make miniaturized nuclear weapons that can be fitted on to missiles.
In a fresh claim, the Kim Jong-un regime's National Defense Commission said that it can make nuclear warheads small enough to be mounted on missiles, South Korea's Yonhap reported, citing North Korea's media outlet, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
However, North Korea is often known to make false or exaggerated claims of its nuclear and military capabilities.
Analysts have dismissed its claims made this month that it had conducted an underwater test-fire of a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), saying North Korea was still years away from developing the technology, Reuters reported.
North Korea's nuclear programme has been under heavy scrutiny, and earlier this year, a US think tank had said that the Kim Jong-un regime may restart a nuclear reactor that can yield plutonium for building atomic bombs.
North Korea has time and again threatened to increase its nuclear capability.
"Our effort to strengthen our defensive military power including nuclear power will be doubly stepped up in every way. Now that the US hostile policy with an aim to invade our republic under the guise of human rights has become apparent, the idea of denuclearising the Korean peninsula itself is no longer valid," North Korea's foreign ministry spokesman had said last December.