President Lee Jae Myung made this assessment on Monday while calling for efforts to lower tensions on the Korean peninsula, AFP reported.
“An ICBM capable of reaching the United States is almost fully developed, and they are continuing to build the capacity to produce approximately 10 to 20 nuclear bombs per year,” he said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
North Korea has assembled an estimated 50 warheads and has fissile material to produce up to 40 more according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Lee criticized the harder-line policies of his predecessor and the lack of diplomacy with North Korea during his address.
“We have made efforts to deter North Korea and apply sanctions, but the result has been North Korea continues developing its nuclear program,“ he said.
“The hard fact is that the number of nuclear weapons that North Korea possesses has increased over the past three to four years,” he said.
Lee stated that South Korea remains committed to conventional weapons deterrence against the North while pursuing de-escalation measures.
He highlighted his efforts to ease provocative steps including ending loudspeaker blasting of anti-North Korea messages across the military frontier.
Lee’s comments followed talks with US President Donald Trump who expressed hope to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un again.