Kim Jong Un the NorthKorean leader waving to the Korean People’s Army.

Recent history has taught us that alliances are made daily and so far in Asia it has been very clear as to who is supporting who. China was almost always on the side of Russia and North Korea and against militarization of South Korea and Japan. It does however seem that China has now started fearing for its safety a little bit more.

Chinese nuclear experts are now warning the world on North Korea’s rising nuclear power. They’ve reported North Korea has 20 nuclear war heads and enough enriched uranium to double this number by the end of next year.

The new number of nuclear weapons owned by North Korea exceeds expectations of both China and US experts. The US expected it to be somewhere between 10 and 16, but not 20 at this point.

Siegfried Hecker who is a leading expert on the subject said pressure and persuasion of international community on denuclearization will only challenge North Korea to push its limits even more and expand its already sizeable nuclear power. He also warned that if something doesn’t change soon it may boost North Korea’s confidence to proceed with its actions.

He said “The more they believe they have a fully functional nuclear arsenal and deterrent, the more difficult it’s going to be to walk them back from that,” in a meeting held this February.

The new discoveries have placed China in a very awkward position. Now Beijing is afraid of the ambitions of its neighbor, their rapid growth in nuclear power and their firm decision to maintain this practice.

If North Korea continue to build its nuclear program this way it is highly possible that the number of their atomic arms will reach 100 by the year 2020. The opinion of the US led team is that the next five years will be crucial for this matter. They have said if the international community doesn’t bring some sense to the Pyongyang government we will be looking at the world’s strongest army backed with the most dangerous weapons.

The only good thing is that there is still not enough proof that North Korea has developed a good missile system. It’s well known that they launched a rocket in 2012, carrying a satellite into orbit, but their re-entry system is not fully operational.

The other question is how they will put miniaturized nuclear devices in their rockets. The South Korean ministry of defence has warned about this matter saying that from the information they have North’s technology is already at a significant level.

There’s no question about China being concerned about this issue, and it is completely understandable, but it seems that both them and international representatives can’t affect the opinion and actions of Pyongyang.