NORTH Korea could have material for 20 NUCLEAR bombs by the end of this year experts have revealed as the defiant South threatens annihilation if one missile is fired towards it.
The secretive state detonated a nuclear bomb “twice of the size of Hiroshima” last week and announced it could produce more warheads “any time we desire”.
Friday's explosion was the fifth and biggest test carried out since dictator Kim Jong-un came to power in 2011.
In response South Korean president Park Geun-hye vowed it would annihilate the state the "very second the North fires even one nuke at us".
She has also pledged to continue the construction of a nuclear shield, which it is hoped would shoot down missiles before they reached the South.
Just days before the test South Korean military forces warned they will destroy the North’s capital with "ballistic missiles and high-explosives" if they detected any sign of a nuclear attack.
A military source told Yonhap news agency, which has strong ties to South Korea’s government, that the North’s leadership would be specifically targeted, with Pyongyang "reduced to ashes and removed from the map".
An expert has said Kim Jong-un has expanded his uranium enrichment facilities, which combined with stockpiled plutonium could create enough material for 20 nuclear weapons.
Last week's test, held in underground tunnels at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, was the second this year.
Double-chinned dictator Kim Jong-un has ignored UN sanctions for years and experts have consistently said it is impossible to know exactly what nuclear capabilities North Korea has.
