Thousands of miles outside the nation’s capital, a group of non-government experts are using North Korea’s propaganda to track the regime’s nuclear weapons program - and now they are offering a dire warning.

The analysts at the Middlebury Institute’s Center for Nonproliferation studies in Monterey, Calif., can pick out detailed information about the rogue nation's military capabilities just from looking at photos.

"Everybody thinks they’re a joke, like they’re some kind of incompetent buffoons," nonproliferation expert Jeffrey Lewis told the Wall Street Journal as part of the new video series “Moving Upstream.”

"We weren't surprised that they were ready to test an ICBM because I looked at the pictures," he said.

Lewis said looking at photos released by North Korea, the group was able to figure out the size of rockets and estimated engine power. The team was even able to figure out the weight of the rockets based on the strength of the crane holding the weapon.

Watch the full video from the Wall Street Journal.