In the meantime, the Iraqi despot may be able to achieve the nuclear wannabe's brass ring: a functioning atomic or even thermonuclear device -- thereby dramatically changing the complexion of the strategic threat posed to us and others by Saddam's regime.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center For Security Policy

Well I think the problem is that they have been the subject of the cyber attacks, they've been the subject of censorship around the world and they need to protect themselves, and this is I think what they believe to be a thermonuclear device effectively in the electronic age.

BBC: Transcript of Mark Stephens interview

Another possibility--the most disturbing one, actually--is that the North Koreans had been telling the truth when on May 12, just two days before South Korea detected the high levels of xenon, they announced they had created a nuclear fusion reaction, a step necessary to the building of a thermonuclear device.

FORBES: Magazine Article