Korea

North Korea’s Military Capabilities

North Korea is believed to have between fifteen to twenty nuclear bombs and has successfully tested a series of different missiles, including short-, medium-, and intermediate-range, and submarine-launched ballistic missiles. To date, North Korea has conducted five nuclear tests:  in October 2006 and May 2009 under Kim Jong-il; and in February 2013 and January and September of 2016 under Kim Jong-un’s leadership. The regime claims to have miniaturized a nuclear warhead to be small enough to place on a missile and has attempted to operationalize an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM); future nuclear tests are anticipated. North Korea possesses the know-how to produce bombs with weapons-grade uranium or plutonium, the primary elements required for making fissile material—the core component of nuclear weapons.