WSJ Corrects Report Claiming North Korea Built More Nukes

Report falsely claimed analysts at Pentagon reached conclusion

Last week, the Wall Street Journal issued a story that claimed North Korea may have build as many as 12 nuclear weapons since US talks began. The story claimed this was the conclusion of analysts at the Pentagon’s DIA.

There were plenty of reasons to question the story at the time, which lacked any real evidence. That did not stop a number of other media outlets from making similar reports, however, quoting the Journal as the source.

Over the weekend, however, the Wall Street Journal offered a “correction” to the report, conceding that the entire 12 nukes conclusion did not come from any official analysts working for the DIA, but rather from “non-government analysts.”

The analysis plainly is based on a couple of satellite images suggesting North Korea still had some activity at a nuclear research site, and then drew the worst-case conclusion based on the possibility that North Korea was doing as much as possible, and every action was based on making new weapons. There is no evidence 12 nukes, or even 1, was made, this North Korea might’ve been able to do so.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.