“I would be very cautious towards any statements made by South Korea about the North. Frankly speaking, South Korean intelligence knows little about the North,” commented Evgeny Kim, from the Centre for Korean Studies at the Institute of Far East of the Russian Academy of Sciences to RT. He cited a recent embarrassing mistake when South Korean officials reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il had chosen his third son as his “successor”, but managed to name him erroneously.

The parliamentary report brings up questions about the credibility of the information, as well as the professionalism of the intelligence officers who provided them, agrees Kim’s colleague Konstantin Asmolov.

“North Korea is a very secretive country, especially when it comes to its defense projects. I have a strong belief that the report was based on data provided by unreliable sources and tells more about the lack of competence of South Korean intelligence and their desire to produce information, which fits an outdated demonized image of North Korea, rather than an objective reality.”

“There are people [among the South’s officials] who faithfully believe that Kim Jong-il’s only dream is to conquer the South and that the nuclear weapon was created for this only purpose. It’s the level of awareness of reality similar to that of some hard-headed generals in the North, who also seem to be living on some other Earth than ours,” he added.

Asmolov says Pyongyang’s official policy is to rely on its nuclear capabilities in case of a military conflict and as a deterrent, while other weapons of mass destruction the DPRK likely possesses, are more or less irrelevant. “Of course I can assume that the North Korea has something in that line, but most of its neighbors have it too,” he said.

The report coincided with a three-day visit to North Korea by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. During the visit Pyongyang announced its willingness to restart six-party talks, which it withdrew from earlier this year. This will be possible if bilateral negotiations with the United States proof fruitful.

There is discontent in the South about its possible sidelining as the dialogue between DPRK and other parties intensifies. Seoul wants the negotiations with Pyongyang to proceed under their control and is reluctant to let anyone, especially the Americans, to take the initiative.