North Korea has officially declared itself a nuclear state at the legislative level, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). It was previously known that the DPRK had nuclear weapons, but now it has been confirmed at the state level.
Pyongyang thus joined the “Nuclear States” world club. It includes the United States, Russia (as the legal successor to the Soviet Union), Great Britain, France, China, and India and Pakistan, which have conducted nuclear tests. While Israel hides the existence of nuclear weapons by adhering to a “policy of deliberate uncertainty”, its arsenal is estimated at around 400 nuclear warheads. North Korea also does not reveal the exact number of nuclear weapons, but does state the possibility of hitting US soil.
“The peculiarity of the Nuclear Club is that membership does not require any advice from members already in the club,” political scientist Alexander Zimovsky told socialbites.ca. “You just have to meet these criteria: make atomic bombs on your own and work tools to get the bombs to their destination on their own. North Korea did not reach this level yesterday. It has now given its nuclear forces local/international legal status.”
A year ago, Kim Jong-un formulated a set of key strategic objectives for North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. It includes the creation of both super-powered and tactical nuclear munitions, increasing the flight range of launch vehicles to 15,000 kilometers, and the creation of a platform for submarine-launched nuclear weapons. In terms of technology, the DPRK has reached the level of nuclear production, which makes it possible to produce about 55 kilograms of weapons-grade plutonium per year. That is, about 10-12 nuclear warheads, depending on the power of the ammunition. In general, the DPRK’s secretly recorded membership in the nuclear club can be considered a heavy slap in the face of Comrade Kim Jong-un and Washington and personally Comrade Biden.
If Trump, in his personal negotiations with Kim Jong Un, approached the issue of denuclearization of North Korea, the current US administration has indeed sponsored the emergence of a new nuclear player in the Asia-Pacific region, where the Americans are testing it. with all their might to maintain their dominance as the greatest nuclear power. But something went wrong.”
The missile armament of the DPRK army is represented by a wide range of short and medium-range tactical ballistic missiles capable of hitting targets at a distance of 100 to 4,000 kilometers declared. One of them, the Hwaseong-11 single-stage solid-fuel missile, is an analogue of the Tochka-U missile system, launched in 2005 in North Korea. All other missiles are also based on the “Soviet component” – they were copied from Russian or Chinese missiles.
The longest-range weapon of the DPRK is the Hwaseong-13 intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of 5500-6000 kilometers. However, it can only fly to American Anchorage in Alaska without posing a threat to major cities in the United States.
“The potential of Korean nuclear missiles is not fully known, but the demonstration of their presence and launches can be considered an element of self-defense,” military expert Vladislav Shurygin told socialbites.ca. – Thus, Pyongyang is trying to protect itself from external pressure by confirming its readiness to adequately respond to possible attacks and to use existing nuclear weapons. It is likely that the DPRK will develop and acquire a higher performance ballistic missile with a range of more than 10 thousand kilometers. At the same time, North Korea’s nuclear potential is noticeably lower than that of neighboring China and Russia. Such a “show of muscles” is more like a warning to be ready to respond to an attempt of external aggression and detonate a bomb that could start a chain reaction and lead to general nuclear war. “Moscow and Beijing are unlikely to support such a policy,” he said.
The Decree “Policy Regarding Nuclear Weapons” lists 11 conditions for the use of nuclear weapons. Among them is an attack on the command and personally on the head of the DPRK, Kim Jong-un. However, attempts to attack units of the North Korean army can also provoke a nuclear response. “If the command and control system of the national nuclear forces is under threat of attack by enemy forces, a nuclear attack will be automatically launched immediately to destroy the enemy forces, including the source and command of the provocation. with a predetermined operational plan,” quoted the Korean agency of military plans.
“North Korea has received nuclear weapons, which it has now announced, this is not the biggest news,” military expert Boris Dzherievsky told socialbites.ca. – Here, the question is largely: How should Russia react to such a reality? “Impossible!” It might try, but you have to react. By strengthening our own missile defense system in the region, which will include not Korea, but the Far East, the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin. There is already an “umbrella” from the S-400 systems, it may be necessary to expand it in Primorye. We also have the Vostochny cosmodrome in the Blagoveshchensk region, which will need additional protection.”