North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vows to further develop nuclear forces
Alarabiya, 9 Jan 25
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un criticized trilateral military cooperation among the United States, Japan and South Korea for raising tensions in the region and vowed countermeasures, including the further development of nuclear forces.
Kim said US deployments of nuclear strategic assets, war exercises and military cooperation with Japan and South Korea were inviting military imbalance in the region and raising a grave challenge to the security environment, state media KCNA reported on Sunday.
“The DPRK does not want unnecessary tension of the regional situation but will take sustained countermeasures to ensure the regional military balance,” Kim said during a visit to the defense ministry on Saturday to commemorate the founding day of its Army.
DPRK stands for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name.
US President Donald Trump, after a meeting on Friday with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, said he would have relations with North Korea, as they expressed concern over its nuclear program.
But during the visit, Kim “clarified once again the unshakable policy of more highly developing the nuclear forces,” according to the report……………………………….
In a separate commentary released later on Sunday, North Korea’s KCNA again criticized South Korea’s military activity with the United States this year and warned that aggressive actions would be met by undesired consequences.
“Anyone could easily guess how we would take the fact that they carried out war exercises that were more intense than ever before at a time when diplomacy schedules were being canceled due to political turmoil,” KCNA said. https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2025/02/09/north-korean-leader-kim-jong-un-vows-to-further-develop-nuclear-forces
Trump calls North Korea a ‘nuclear power,’ drawing a rebuke from Seoul
Yahoo! News, Stella Kim, Wed, January 22, 2025
SEOUL, South Korea — Denuclearization of North Korea is a prerequisite for global stability, South Korea said Tuesday after President Donald Trump described the reclusive regime as a “nuclear power,” raising concern that the U.S. could be moving toward recognizing the North as a nuclear-armed state.
Since Trump was last in office, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has vowed to “exponentially” boost his nuclear arsenal and ramped up weapons testing, including of missiles that could potentially strike the continental United States and overwhelm U.S. treaty ally South Korea.
The newly inaugurated Trump, who met with Kim three times during his first term to discuss North Korea’s U.N.-sanctioned weapons programs, spoke enthusiastically Monday about his past relationship with Kim, saying they liked each other.
“Now, he is a nuclear power,” Trump said while signing a series of executive orders in the Oval Office. “I think he’ll be happy to see I’m coming back.”
Trump’s defense secretary nominee, Pete Hegseth, also called North Korea a “nuclear power” during his Senate confirmation hearing last week.
While it is unclear what Trump and Hegseth meant by “nuclear power,” U.S. officials have long refrained from using the phrase as it could signal recognition of North Korea as a nuclear-armed state.
The Trump administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Though there is growing debate as to whether the international community should accept North Korea’s nuclear status, experts say doing so would significantly disrupt the geopolitical balance in the region and potentially set off an arms race, including the possible development of nuclear weapons by South Korea and Japan…………………………. https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-calls-north-korea-nuclear-115137317.html
North Korea beats sanctions to acquire key tool for nuclear weapons.
North Korea obtained a key tool used in the production of nuclear warheads
by shipping it through three separate countries in an elaborate ploy to
dodge international sanctions on the country’s weapons programme.
According to a US think tank, authorities in Mexico, South Africa and China
failed to spot false documentation for a vacuum furnace, which can be used
in creating uranium fuel for nuclear warheads.
The case demonstrates the
increasing difficulties of enforcing international sanctions against North
Korea. The report by the Institute for Science and International Security
cites unnamed government sources to describe an incident in 2022, when the
vacuum furnace was shipped from Spain with an accurate declaration of its
function.
Times 20th Jan 2025,
https://www.thetimes.com/world/asia/article/north-korea-sanctions-key-nuclear-tool-z6qwg79jj
We used to laugh at North Korean nuclear submarine boasts. Not any more
In January 2021, North Korean strongman Kim Jong Un stood before thousands of
members of the Worker’s Party of Korea in Pyongyang and announced that
North Korean industry was in the late stages of developing a
nuclear-powered submarine – the first such sub for the North Korean navy.
At the time, it may have been wise to be sceptical: nuclear submarines are
among the costliest and most complex weapon systems in the world. North
Korean industry isn’t exactly known for its wealth and sophistication.
Nearly four years later, there’s much less reason to doubt Kim’s claim.
Because now North Korea has Russia’s help. And for all its woes, Russian
industry still builds a lot of world-class nuke boats.
Telegraph 6th Dec 2024, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/06/putin-russia-nuclear-submarine-north-korea-axis-evil/
South has raised risk of nuclear war, North Korea says
Canberra Times, By Josh Smith, 3 Nov 24
A white paper released by North Korean state media has accused South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol of exposing his country to the danger of nuclear war through his policies toward the North.
The document, compiled by North Korea’s Institute of Enemy State Studies and released on Sunday by state news agency KCNA, criticised Yoon’s “reckless remarks” about war, abandoning elements of an inter-Korean agreement, engaging in nuclear war planning with the United States, and seeking closer ties with Japan and NATO.November 3 2024
“Its ever-worsening military moves resulted only in the paradoxical consequences of pushing (North Korea) to stockpile its nuclear weapons at an exponential rate and further develop its nuclear attack capability,” the paper said……………………………………………
The two Koreas have also clashed over balloons of trash floated since May from North Korea.
Pyongyang has said the launches are a response to balloons sent by anti-regime activists in the South…………………………..
Meanwhile, the US on Sunday deployed B-1B bombers for joint aerial drills with South Korea and Japan, in response to North Korea’s recent launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The military exercise showed the three countries’ strong commitment to responding to the North’s nuclear and missile threats through co-operation, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
This is the second time this year that the three countries conducted joint air drills and the fourth time in 2024 that the US deployed its strategic bombers on the Korean peninsula, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8809775/south-has-raised-risk-of-nuclear-war-north-korea-says/
US Military Policy Is Stoking the Risk of Nuclear War on Korean Peninsula
As Trump and Harris bicker over North Korea, the US military lays plans that could bring nuclear tensions to a brink.
By Ju-Hyun Park , Truthout, September 19, 2024
U.S. politicians can’t stop talking about Kim Jong Un. The two major party conventions have come and gone, with both presidential candidates mentioning the North Korean leader by name. At the Republican National Convention (RNC), Donald Trump claimed Kim had endorsed him, adding, “He misses me.” Just weeks later at the Democratic National Convention (DNC), Kamala Harris alluded to her opponent’s claims, declaring before an enraptured audience that the “tyrant” Kim is “rooting for Trump.”
Neither candidate told the truth. The North Korea’s state news agency was swift to respond to Trump back in June, clarifying the position of the government with characteristically pointed remarks: “No matter what administration takes office in the U.S., the political climate, which is confused by the infighting of the two parties, does not change and, accordingly, we do not care about this.”
The fact-free treatment of North Korea by both parties is a sign of how the electoral cycle has reduced the Korean crisis to a political football. This is especially dangerous in a time when the risk of war in Korea is at its highest in decades. Significantly, neither Republicans nor Democrats seem interested in a public discussion about the concrete situation in Korea, or the major escalations the U.S. is undertaking there.
While the news cameras and the eyes of the electorate were trained on the DNC in Chicago, the U.S. military executed one of the largest war games on Earth in Korea: Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS). UFS is the latest name for an annual series of military exercises conducted by the Combined Forces Command, the command structure under which the military of South Korea answers to U.S. generals. (The U.S. has had operational wartime command of South Korea’s armed forces since 1950.) Originating in 1976, UFS and its predecessors routinely deploy tens of thousands of troops, along with U.S. “strategic assets” such as aircraft carriers, heavy bombers and nuclear submarines.
This is a major, and widely misunderstood, component of the unfinished Korean War — that for over half a century, some of the largest military maneuvers on Earth are conducted on an annual basis in Korea within sight of the border bisecting the peninsula. Although the U.S. and Republic of Korea (ROK), South Korea’s official name, insist these exercises are defensive, many of them rehearse the invasion and occupation of North Korea.
These “war games,” by their very nature, look identical to the first steps of a real invasion. This year’s UFS featured a whopping 48 individual war drills, deploying 19,000 South Korean troops, 200 military aircraft and an unknown number of U.S. soldiers. What’s more, this year’s war games took place in the context of another significant escalation: emergent plans to potentially redeploy U.S. nuclear weapons to Korea.
Killing Peace
The Korean War was concluded with a ceasefire rather than a permanent peace treaty, making it the longest war in U.S. history. For over 50 years, relations between North and South Korea were structured through the paradigm of independent, peaceful reunification — a mutual commitment to nonviolently end both the Korean War and the division of the Korean people. And since the late 1980s, relations between the U.S. and North Korea were also based on the framework of denuclearization. Both of these diplomatic paradigms have now crumbled.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… more https://truthout.org/articles/us-military-policy-is-stoking-the-risk-of-nuclear-war-on-korean-peninsula/
North Korea’s Kim Jong Un says country to increase number of nuclear weapons, KCNA says
By Reuters, September 10, 2024,
Reporting by Joyce Lee Editing by Chris Reese, https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/north-koreas-kim-jong-un-says-country-increase-number-nuclear-weapons-kcna-says-2024-09-09/
SEOUL, – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the country is now implementing a nuclear force construction policy to increase the number of nuclear weapons “exponentially,” state media KCNA said on Tuesday.
Kim gave a speech on North Korea’s founding anniversary on Monday, KCNA said.
North Korea must more thoroughly prepare its “nuclear capability and its readiness to use it properly at any given time in ensuring the security rights of the state,” Kim said, according to KCNA.
A strong military presence is needed to face “the various threats posed by the United States and its followers,” Kim added.
North Korea condemns new US nuclear strategic plan report
VOA News, Seoul, South Korea26 Aug 24
North Korea vowed Saturday to advance its nuclear capabilities, reacting to a report that the United States had revised its own nuclear strategic plan.
The country will “bolster up its strategic strength in every way to control and eliminate all sorts of security challenges that may result from Washington’s revised plan,” the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
The New York Times reported this week that a U.S. plan approved by President Joe Biden in March was to prepare for possible coordinated nuclear confrontations with Russia, China and North Korea.
The highly classified plan for the first time reorients Washington’s deterrent strategy to focus on China’s rapid expansion in its nuclear arsenal, the Times said.
KCNA said North Korea’s foreign ministry “expresses serious concern over and bitterly denounces and rejects the behavior of the U.S.”
It added North Korea vowed to push forward the building of nuclear force sufficient and reliable enough to firmly defend its sovereignty.
Pyongyang and Moscow have been allies since North Korea’s founding after World War II and have drawn even closer since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
The United States and Seoul have accused North Korea of providing ammunition and missiles to Russia for its war in Ukraine.
Pyongyang, which has declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear weapons power, has described allegations of supplying weapons to Russia as “absurd.”…………………………………… more https://www.voanews.com/a/north-korea-condemns-new-us-nuclear-strategic-plan-report/7755256.html
South Korea’s Yoon seeks dialogue with North, path to unification
Reuters, By Hyonhee Shin, August 16, 2024
Summary
- Yoon unveils blueprint for unification in Liberation Day speech
- Offers to form consultative body for inter-Korean cooperation
- Yoon says to keep offering humanitarian aid to the North
- South Korean opposition boycotts speech over Japan outreach
SEOUL, Aug 15 (Reuters) – South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol offered on Thursday to establish a working-level consultative body with North Korea to discuss ways to ease tension and resume economic cooperation, as he laid out his vision on unification of the neighbours.
In a National Liberation Day speech marking the 79th anniversary of independence from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule after World War Two, Yoon said he was ready to begin political and economic cooperation if North Korea “takes just one step” toward denuclearisation……………………………………………………………………………………more https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/south-koreas-yoon-offers-working-level-talks-with-north-korea-2024-08-15/
Yongbyon Nuclear Complex: New evidence of increased activity
Night-time lights visible at the Yongbyon radiochemical laboratory suggest that North Korea is covertly importing spent fuel rods for plutonium extraction reprocessing
DAILY NK By Bruce Songhak Chung, 16 July 24
Evidence suggests that North Korea is ramping up production of plutonium and uranium nuclear materials at the radiochemical laboratory and uranium enrichment facility in the Yongbyon nuclear complex, as it has begun full-scale operation of the experimental light water reactor this summer. Recently, major foreign media outlets covering North Korea have debated and verified the reliability of the thermal infrared analysis of the Yongbyon facility presented in a Daily NK column I published in May. This article summarizes thoughts and opinions on this matter, and also examines what is behind the intermittent night lights observed in Yongbyon through night-time luminosity images.
Recent conditions at the Yongbyon reactor and light water reactor area were examined using Maxar’s GeoEye-1 satellite imagery (40 centimeter resolution). In the June 19 satellite photo, heated cooling water from the reactor and light water reactor operation is clearly identified being discharged into the Kuryong River through two pump stations, accompanied by white foam. This marks the 16th cooling water discharge detected this year. As it continues to appear in satellite images since late April, the experimental light water reactor appears to have entered full-scale operation. The South Korean Ministry of National Defense had previously predicted that the Yongbyon light water reactor would enter normal operation in or around the summer months.
Below the second pump station, a yellow substance spread out in a rectangular shape can be seen on the ground. This could be wheat or barley being dried after harvest. In North Korea, mid-June is the peak harvest time for wheat and barley in the fields, followed typically by planting corn as the year’s second crop. Soldiers and workers guarding the Yongbyon nuclear facility appear to be engaging in farming activities in empty spaces within the complex as food rations are insufficient.
Analysis of Yongbyon thermal infrared satellite imagery………………………………………………………………………………………..
Repairs of the boiler room in the Yongbyon thermal power plant ………………………………………………………
Mysterious late night lights at the radiochemical laboratory………………………………………………………….
influential foreign media outlets recently released an assessment about thermal infrared analysis, which is used to determine the operational status of the Yongbyon nuclear facilities. The prominent U.S. North Korea-focused website Beyond Parallel has provided an in-depth analysis of the reliability of thermal infrared data. I read the three articles with great interest. The conclusion of the series of articles evaluated the results of the thermal infrared analysis of North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear facilities as generally reliable. The outlet explained that after obtaining and comparing Yongbyon facility operation records for over two years held by the U.N., the results largely matched those of the thermal infrared analysis. When high heat was detected in the thermal infrared data, it corresponded with the operation of the Yongbyon facilities. However, the caveat was that facilities operating at low intensity might not be detected due to weak heat emissions. They also recommended drawing comprehensive conclusions by combining thermal infrared analysis with various other data, as there are still imperfections in the analysis. This is valuable advice worth noting.
Please send any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net. https://www.dailynk.com/english/yongbyon-nuclear-complex-new-evidence-of-increased-activity/
–
July 16, 2024
US Ally South Korea Threatens Nuclear-Armed North Korea With Regime Destruction
https://www.newsweek.com/south-north-korea-nuclear-weapons-regime-destruction-1925096, Jul 15, 2024
South Korea said Kim Jong Un‘s regime in the North faces a certain end if it uses nuclear weapons, a strongly worded statement that came after Pyongyang blasted Seoul and Washington for opening the door to further nuclear force deployments to the peninsula.
“If North Korea attempts to use nuclear weapons, the overwhelming response of the South Korea-U.S. alliance will bring about the end of the North Korean regime,” the Defense Ministry in Seoul said on Sunday.
“There is no scenario in which the North Korean regime will survive after using nuclear weapons,” the ministry added.
Kim’s government has stepped up its ballistic missile tests despite existing prohibitions backed by the U.N. Security Council. Amid spiraling tensions on the Korean Peninsula, Pyongyang has threatened to launch a preemptive nuclear strike to defend its territory from what it claims is an impending invasion.
In Washington, D.C., last week, President Joe Biden met South Korean counterpart Yoon Suk Yeol and recommitted “the full range of U.S. capabilities, including nuclear,” to the defense of the longtime U.S. treaty ally.
In a joint statement issued later the same day, the U.S. Defense Department and South Korean Defense Ministry announced the signing of “Guidelines for Nuclear Deterrence and Nuclear Operations on the Korean Peninsula.” This is a move to further integrate U.S. nuclear assets with South Korea’s conventional forces in defense of the alliance.
On Saturday, the North Korean Defense Ministry warned the United States and the South—”hostile states“—that they would “pay an unimaginably harsh price” for increased nuclear cooperation.
The allies were “betraying their sinister intention to step up their preparations for a nuclear war against the DPRK,” read the statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. DPRK stands for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name.
“We come to the conclusion that there is only one option for us to take against such confrontational fanatics,” the ministry said, noting the urgent requirement “to further improve its nuclear deterrent readiness and add important elements to the composition of the deterrent.”
South Korea’s Defense Ministry described the new guidelines as “a legitimate measure,” justified by North Korea’s continued development of nuclear-capable missiles.
The forceful language against Kim was first used by Biden last year during a state visit by Yoon.
“A nuclear attack by North Korea against the United States or its allies or partners is unacceptable and will result in the end of whatever regime, were it to take such an action,” Biden said.
North Korea’s embassy in Beijing did not immediately respond to a written request for comment.
The new guidelines governing when and how American nuclear forces might be deployed and used on the Korean Peninsula were crafted by the U.S.-ROK Nuclear Consultative Group, established after Yoon’s visit to the White House. ROK stands for the Republic of Korea, South Korea’s official name.
South Korea, which has no nuclear weapons, says the contents of the guidelines are confidential.
Analysts say Washington aims to boost the credibility of what it calls “extended deterrence,” the ability of the U.S. military to deter adversaries and reassure allies, particularly with its nuclear arms.
North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in 2006 and is estimated to have around 50 nuclear warheads in its stockpile, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
In SIPRI’s annual yearbook released last month, the think tank’s experts described North Korea’s nuclear weapons program as “active but highly opaque.”
“Based on statements by the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, and North Korea’s expanding force posture, it seems likely that North Korea intends to increase its nuclear warhead inventory significantly,” the experts said.
North Korean nuclear weapons, 2024
Bulletin By Hans M. Kristensen, Matt Korda, Eliana Johns, Mackenzie Knight | July 15, 2024
North Korea continues to modernize and grow its nuclear weapons arsenal. In this Nuclear Notebook, the authors cautiously estimate that North Korea may have produced enough fissile material to hypothetically build up to 90 nuclear warheads, but has likely assembled fewer than that—potentially around 50. To deliver the warheads, North Korea is enhancing and diversifying its missile force, most recently with new solid-fuel long-range strategic missiles, short-range tactical missiles, and sea-based missiles. The Nuclear Notebook is researched and written by the staff of the Federation of American Scientists’ Nuclear Information Project: director Hans M. Kristensen, associate director Matt Korda, research associate Eliana Johns, and program associate Mackenzie Knight.
This article is freely available in PDF format in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ digital magazine (published by Taylor & Francis) at this link.
North Korea—also known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or DPRK—has made significant advances over the past two decades in developing its nuclear weapons arsenal. Since 2006, North Korea has detonated six nuclear devices, updated its nuclear doctrine to reflect the irreversible role of nuclear weapons for its national security, and continued to introduce a variety of new missiles test-flown from new launch platforms.
It is widely assumed that North Korea has operational nuclear warheads for its short- and medium-range missiles as well as possibly for its longer-range missiles, although the latter capability has not yet been publicly demonstrated. There is considerable uncertainty about which of North Korea’s missiles have been fielded with an active operational nuclear capability. However, it seems clearer from North Korea’s public statements and systems-testing that the country intends to field an operational nuclear arsenal capable of holding targets at risk in East Asia, the United States, and Europe.
In 2021, Kim Jong-un announced several key strategic goals for North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, proposed as a five-year plan. According to Kim’s statement, these goals included: 1) producing “super-sized nuclear warheads,” 2) producing smaller and lighter nuclear weapons for tactical uses, 3) improving precision strike and range capabilities, 4) introducing “hypersonic gliding flight warheads,” 5) developing “solid-fuel engine propelled intercontinental, underwater, and ground ballistic rockets,” and 6) introducing a “nuclear-powered submarine and underwater-launch nuclear strategic weapon” (KCNA 2021). North Korea appears to have made significant progress on these goals, and has since introduced more demands including the dramatic increase of missile production and “cutting edge strategic weapon engines” (Kim 2023).
Due to the lack of clarity surrounding North Korea’s nuclear program, agencies and officials of the US intelligence community, as well as military commanders and independent experts, struggle to assess the program’s characteristics and capabilities………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
North Korea’s nuclear policy
For decades, North Korea has made numerous statements and signals about its nuclear weapons policy, laying out its nuclear doctrine if deterrence fails. Such statements have more recently been codified in official declaratory policy. In 2013, for example, North Korea’s “Law on Consolidating the Position of Nuclear Weapons State” suggested a no-first-use policy, noting that North Korea’s nuclear arsenal would only be used “to repel invasion or attack from a hostile nuclear weapons state and make retaliatory strikes” (KCNA 2013). Kim Jong-un officially declared a no-first-use policy in 2016 following North Korea’s fourth nuclear test.
Since 2016, however, North Korean statements and force posture changes have indicated a shift away from this no-first-use policy. Just two months after the policy was declared, the North Korean government issued a statement that North Korea would not be the first to use nuclear weapons “as long as the hostile forces for aggression do not encroach upon its sovereignty” (KCNA 2016b). In 2020, Kim Jong-un stated that North Korea’s nuclear deterrent “will never be used preemptively. But if […] any forces infringe upon the security of our state and attempt to have recourse to military force against us, I will enlist all our most powerful offensive strength in advance to punish them” (38 North 2020). Such caveats culminated in September 2022 when North Korea’s parliament codified in law North Korea’s right to launch nuclear weapons preemptively (Kim 2022). One year later, the North Korean government codified under the country’s constitution its right to “deter war and protect regional and global peace by rapidly developing nuclear weapons to a higher level” (Soo-Yeon 2023).
The abandonment of North Korea’s no-first-use policy coincides with the country’s recent efforts to develop tactical nuclear weapons. Following development and demonstration of new long-range strategic nuclear-capable missiles, the pursuit of tactical nuclear weapons appears intended to provide options for nuclear use below the strategic level and strengthen its regional deterrence posture (KCNA 2022; National Committee on North Korea 2021). According to two analysts, Pyongyang now sees its nuclear weapons as useful not only for retaliation against an attack but also for potentially winning a limited conflict………………
………………….. Occasionally, North Korea has explicitly mentioned or signaled which targets it would hit with its nuclear weapons. These include US military bases in South Korea, the Asia-Pacific region, Guam, Hawaii, and the continental United States.
………………………………………………………………….. despite occasional inflammatory statements, it appears highly likely that North Korea—as with other nuclear-armed states—would use its nuclear weapons only under extreme circumstances, particularly if the continued existence of the North Korean state and its political leadership were threatened.
North Korea’s nuclear weapons program
Plutonium production operations
The Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center, located in North Pyongan province, has been called the “beating heart” of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. At Yongbyon, North Korea produces plutonium at its five megawatt-electric (MWe) graphite-moderated nuclear reactor, which has been operating intermittently since 1986………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Uranium enrichment operations
Assessing the state of North Korea’s uranium enrichment operations is more difficult because the operational history and locations of several associated uranium enrichment facilities are unknown………………………………………………………………
Fissile material and warhead inventory estimates
Because of the prior access to the facilities at Yongbyon, analysts have a reasonable understanding of North Korea’s plutonium production capabilities. However, given the uncertainties about the operations at Yongbyon’s uranium enrichment facility and the possible existence of a second centrifuge facility, it is unclear how much highly-enriched uranium (HEU) North Korea has produced and how much uranium it might divert to military purposes, including for plutonium production. Still, this amount is known to be growing and it is clear North Korea is investing in the improvement of its fissile material production capabilities………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
The size of North Korea’s nuclear stockpile also depends on the weapon design and the number and types of launchers that can deliver them. Many experts also estimate that North Korea may have built a smaller number of nuclear weapons than what its stockpile of fissile material may suggest………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Nuclear testing and weaponization
After six nuclear tests—including two with moderate yields and one with a high yield—there is no longer any doubt that North Korea can build powerful nuclear explosive devices designed for different yields. North Korea’s latest nuclear test, conducted on September 3, 2017, had a yield of well over 100 kilotons and demonstrated that North Korea had managed to design a thermonuclear device or at least one that used a mixed-fuel (composite) design………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Potential land-based nuclear-capable missiles
Over the past decade, North Korea has developed a highly diverse ballistic missile force, including missiles in all major range categories…………………………………………………………………………………………
Short-range missiles…………………………………………………………………………………
Medium- and intermediate-range missiles North Korea is developing a new generation of medium- and intermediate-range missiles with improved accuracy, readiness, and maneuverability…………………………………………………………………
Intercontinental ballistic missiles
The most dramatic of North Korea’s recent developments has been the display and test launch of large intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs),…………………………………………………
Sea-based nuclear-capable missiles
Over the past decade, North Korea has worked to develop an increasingly sophisticated sea-based nuclear deterrent. ……………………………………………………………………..
Submarine-launched ballistic missiles……………………………………………
Submarine-launched cruise missiles North Korea is developing a new submarine-launched cruise missile, known as Pulhwasal-3-31. The system has been labeled a “strategic cruise missile”—implying a nuclear-capable status……………………………………………………
Other sea-based weapons North Korea appears to be developing an underwater weapon system………………………………………..
Land-attack cruise missiles North Korea appears to be developing a series of land-attack cruise missiles (LACMs)—………………………………………………… more https://thebulletin.org/premium/2024-07/north-korean-nuclear-weapons-2024/
North Korea tests new nuclear-capable underwater drone
Canberra Times, By Soo-Hyang Choi and Ju-Min Park, March 24 2023
North Korea has tested a new nuclear-capable underwater attack drone, as leader Kim Jong-un warned joint military drills by South Korea and the United States should stop.
The drone cruised underwater at a depth of 80 to 150 metres for more than 59 hours and detonated a non-nuclear payload in waters off its east coast on Thursday, North Korean state news agency KCNA said on Friday.
Analysts say North Korea is showing off its increasingly diverse nuclear threats to Washington and Seoul, though they are sceptical whether the underwater vehicle is ready for deployment.
North Korea intends to signal “to the United States and South Korea that in a war, the potential vectors of nuclear weapons delivery that the allies would have to worry about and target would be vast,” said Ankit Panda, senior fellow at the US-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
“There would be silos, railcars, submarines and road mobile missile launchers and now they’re adding this underwater torpedo to the mix,” he said………………………………………………………… more https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8134654/north-korea-tests-new-nuclear-capable-underwater-drone/—
Rare spat shows China and North Korea still at odds on nuclear weapons
Japan Times, BY JOSH SMITH, SEOUL, May 29, 2024
North Korea’s rare swipe at China this week underscored how Beijing and Pyongyang do not entirely see eye-to-eye on the latter’s illicit nuclear weapons arsenal, despite warming ties in other areas, analysts and officials in South Korea said.
The North condemned China, Japan and South Korea on Monday for discussing denuclearization of the peninsula, calling their joint declaration after a summit in Seoul a “grave political provocation” that violates its sovereignty.
Even though Beijing helped tone down the statement by advocating mention of the peninsula rather than the North specifically, that was enough to raise its neighbor’s hackles, one analyst said.
“It is notable that North Korea criticized a joint statement that China had signed onto, even after Beijing helped water down the statement,” added Patricia Kim, of the Brookings Institution in the United States.
In their remarks, the three nations “reiterated positions on regional peace and stability, denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” but unlike the last such statements in 2019 and earlier, did not commit to pursue denuclearization.
Since international talks with the United States and other countries stalled in 2019, North Korea has moved to reject the concept of ever giving up its nuclear weapons.
“This is about North Korea emphasizing its stance that any diplomatic rhetoric suggesting Pyongyang should eventually denuclearize is unacceptable,” said Tong Zhao, a nuclear expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
“After enshrining its nuclear status in the constitution and reprimanding anyone who questions it, North Korea is raising demands for formal international recognition as a nuclear-armed country.”……………………………………… more https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/05/29/asia-pacific/politics/china-north-korea-nuclear-weapons/—
North Korea vows to boost nuclear posture after US subcritical nuke test
DPRK slams US for destabilizing global security through no-expolosion experiment, though expert downplays threat
NK News Jeongmin Kim , May 20, 2024
North Korea has condemned the U.S. for conducting a no-explosion nuclear experiment that it claims destabilizes global security, vowing to recalibrate its own nuclear deterrence measures in response.
The U.S. Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced last week that it conducted a “subcritical experiment at an underground facility in Nevada on May 14 to collect information about the reliability and effectiveness of American nuclear warheads.
“This is a dangerous act that renders the extremely worsening global security environment more unstable, having seriously negative impact on the strategic balance among major nuclear powers,” an unnamed spokesperson of North Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday.
Both the externally facing Korean Central News Agency and the domestic party daily Rodong Sinmun carried the statement.
The spokesperson called the U.S. the “world’s biggest nuclear weapons state” with a “strategic goal to militarily control other countries,” disqualifying it from discussing the threat of nuclear war.
It is “nothing but rhetoric,” the statement continues before referencing the strategic assets that visited South Korea in the past couple of years, the U.S.-ROK Nuclear Consultative Group on discussing joint nuclear planning and the joint tabletop exercise slated for August on North Korean nuclear use scenarios.
The latest test in Nevada has “added new tension to the military showdown among nuclear weapons states, fomenting the international nuclear arms race,” the statement reads, vowing to improve its nuclear defense posture against this threat.
However, Shin Seung-ki, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA), told NK News that the U.S. test is not as threatening or new as North Korea described it. ………………………………………….
South Korean and U.S. authorities have said North Korea completed preparations for a seventh nuclear test around two years ago, but Pyongyang has not conducted one so far. https://www.nknews.org/2024/05/north-korea-vows-to-boost-nuclear-posture-after-us-subcritical-nuke-test/
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