'Tipping point' just a few years away for N. Korea's nuclear weaponization

The "tipping point" for North Korea's nuclear weaponization may be only a few years away, South Korea's top diplomat has warned in Munich, calling the ongoing nuclear crisis a ticking bomb.

In a speech on Saturday at the Korean Peninsula session first launched during the Munich Security, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se also said that the North's recent missile provocation is a "prelude" to the reclusive state arming itself with a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile.

"North Korea is nearing the final stage of nuclear weaponization. In our analysis, the tipping point may be only a couple of years away. It's a ticking time bomb," Yun said.

His speech at the forum comes after the North test-fired a new intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) called Pukguksong-2 on Feb. 12. It reached a height of 550 kilometers after being fired at a high angle and flew about 500 km before splashing down into the East Sea.

"Its missile capability is posing a direct threat to the world, including the continental U.S. The IRBM launch two weeks ago is surely a prelude to a nuclear capable ICBM," he said.

"We are racing against time. If we do not reverse this process now, then this will become a game changer for all of us, and it would be like living under Pyongyang's nuclear sword of Damocles precariously dangling over our heads," he added.

Calling the North's nuclear threat the "most imminent" and "gravest" challenge confronting the world, Yun said that there is evidence that sanctions are working, and opposed "dialogue for the sake of dialogue."

"Over the past 20 something years since the first North Korean nuclear crisis, we have left no stone unturned. Negotiations with North Korea have led us nowhere," he said. "Dialogue for dialogue's sake with North Korea is simply buying the same horse again." (Yonhap)