An American nuclear scientist says that North Korea appears to have the ability to produce a key element in making hydrogen bombs.

Stanford University Professor Siegfried Hecker attended a Seoul forum on the North Korean nuclear issue Tuesday, after which he told reporters there were indications that North Korea attempted to sell lithium-6, one of the key ingredients of tritium, last year. He says that shows the North clearly knows how to make tritium.

Hecker also pointed out commercial satellite imagery shows many facilities are under construction at the North’s Yongbyon nuclear site and one of them could be a facility to produce tritium from lithium-6. 

[Photo : ]