North Korea has developed sophisticated nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles despite international condemnation, and diplomatic efforts to denuclearize the country have thus far been met with failure.
Region East Asia and the Pacific. Fact Sheet. North Korea Biological Overview. North Korea Missile Overview. North Korea Chemical Overview. Teaching Tool. The BTWC mandates the elimination of existing biological weapons and prohibits developing, stockpiling, or using biological and toxin weapons. Learn More. Analysts at the James Martin Centre for Nonproliferation Studies told Reuters that it appeared to be "an improved variant" of a previously tested missile, the KN Some experts have suggested that the missile could have features enabling it to manoeuvre more easily, and making it harder to detect.
The recent test of a long-range cruise missile could pose yet more challenges for defence systems, as these missiles don't have to follow a straight trajectory and can be programmed to avoid detection. State media said it could travel up to 1,km miles , putting much of Japan within range, although it's not clear as yet how it is guided, and whether it could carry a nuclear payload. Unlike ballistic missiles, current UN Security Council sanctions do not prohibit North Korea from testing cruise missiles.
The hypersonic missile recently tested can travel at much faster speeds. It's believed that it also has technology for it to be transported and stored fully fuelled, allowing for quicker launch times and making it difficult for adversaries to launch a pre-emptive strike. On 3 September , North Korea conducted by far its largest nuclear test to date, at its Punggye-ri test site. Estimates of the device's explosive power, or yield, ranged from kilotons.
A yield of kilotons would make the test six times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in North Korea claimed this test was its first thermonuclear weapon - the most potent form of nuclear explosion where an atomic detonation is boosted by a secondary fusion process to produce a far bigger blast. In April , North Korea announced it would suspend further nuclear tests because its capabilities had been "verified".
North Korea also promised to dismantle the Punggye-ri site and in May blew up some of the tunnels in the presence of foreign journalists - but with no international experts. As dialogue got underway between Kim Jong-un and President Trump's administration that year, Pyongyang also said that it would destroy all its nuclear material enrichment facilities. The UN's atomic agency reported in August that on the basis of satellite imagery, it appeared North Korea had restarted the Yongbyon reactor, thought to be its main source of weapons-grade plutonium.
The International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA said in September that the nuclear programme was going "full steam ahead," with work on plutonium separation, uranium enrichment and other activities. North Korea has one of the largest standing armies in the world - with more than one million army personnel and estimated reserves of some , Much of its equipment is old and obsolete, but its conventional forces could still inflict massive damage on South Korea in the event of war.
North Korea also has around tens of thousands of special forces troops which could be expected to infiltrate the South in the event of any conflict. A further threat comes from thousands of North Korean artillery pieces and rocket launchers deployed along the border, putting South Korea, including the capital Seoul, which is a distance of less than 60km, well within range.
In , the South Korean government assessed that North Korea could have between 2, and 5, tons of chemical weapons, potentially one of the largest stockpiles in the world. And there've also been concerns that North Korea could have a biological weapons programme, although very little is known about it and how far advanced it might be.
It was part of a deal that was supposed to result in the unwinding of North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Joshua Stanton, who runs the blog OneFreeKorea and is one of the foremost experts on North Korea sanctions, argues that United Nations reports on sanctions compliance regularly provide evidence that could be used to penalize companies, but the U.
One reason, Cha and others say, is because the U. In order for diplomacy to work, it must be backed by a credible threat of force, the former Trump administration official and other experts say.
Carol E. Lee is an NBC News correspondent. IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Politics Covid U. News World Opinion Business. Share this —. Follow NBC News. By Ken Dilanian , Carol E. Lee and Dan De Luce.
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