Australia worried about North Korean nukes

CANBERRA, Australia, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- A Canberra-based analyst is warning that North Korea may possibly use a ship to smuggle its nuclear weapons into foreign ports.

The delivery of nuclear weapons by sea has long concerned physicists and analysts: When Albert Einstein warned U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt of the possibility of developing nuclear weapons in 1939, he wrote that they might possibly be delivered by ship.

The Age reported Oct. 16 that Australian Strategic Policy Institute physicist and analyst Andrew Davies said the crude weapon recently tested by North Korea appeared to be "a bit of a dud in terms of its yield," adding, "I think the most realistic delivery mechanism they've got is to float one into a harbor with either a ship or a submarine."

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said that Australia's government was still considering how to support the recent United Nations Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on North Korea, and had not yet decided whether Australian warships would assist in the enforcing the sanctions.