Over the past few months, a series of provocative missile launches carried out by North Korea, described as a “rogue state” for its flagrant defiance of the world opinion, has been grabbing media headlines with questions such as whether this puritanical communist country is in possession of the technological expertise for building and deploying an Inter Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) and capable of launching nuclear tipped missiles.

    Though a section of strategic experts believe Pyongyang may have the wherewithal to fire a nuclear tipped missile, the widely held perception is that North Korea is still a long way off from launching a nuclear capable missile. The latest view of the US defence set up Pentagon is that it would be “inaccurate to suggest that the North Korean regime has fully tested, developed or demonstrated nuclear capabilities”. For with its current level of technological progress, North Korea will have....