Nuclear security

North Korea May Be Close to Targeting US With Nuclear Missile

North Korea’s advancing nuclear and missile programs have some analysts worried that the reclusive state may pose a real threat to the rest of the world very soon.

Amid speculations about North Korea attacking the US, analysts expect the state to soon launch its most powerful nuclear test to date.

Based on recently released satellite images of substantial tunnel excavation at the North's nuclear test site in North Hamgyong Province, analyst Frank Pabian of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and David Coblentz, an environmental science expert at LANL, have concluded that the regime may be preparing an explosion 14 times more powerful than the one it conducted in September.

"The continued tunneling under Mt. Mantap via the North Portal has the potential for allowing North Korea to support additional underground nuclear tests of significantly higher explosive yields, perhaps up to 282 kilotons (282000 tons)," South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported, referring to the analysts.