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| Fig. 1: North Korean nuclear missile parade. (Source: Wikimedia Commons) |
North Korea is constantly making headlines in the news. However, these headlines are normally negative ones that talk about their volatility and their nuclear power. Kim Jong-un, North Korea's ruler, has increased the nation's armament and has displayed it in parades, controlled tests and speeches. [1] The nation's young leader has proved to be irrational at times but has also engaged in dialogue with the United States' president, Donald Trump, and South Korea's leader, Moon Jae-in, between others. [2] In this paper a scope of their quantity of nuclear weapons will be explained.
In 2016 North Korea claimed to have performed their first Hydrogen Bomb test. This claim was made after seismic activity had been detected by neighboring cities. This claim seemed to be fake and was not taking seriously by many countries. However, later that year and in 2017 North Korea claimed to have tested and successfully built missiles that could carry atomic material. [3] This claim by the North Korean regime seemed more believable and instilled fear in neighboring countries. This claim was also taking more seriously because of the power a Hydrogen Bomb has. The normal atomic bomb equals the same force as 10,000 TNTs however, a Hydrogen Bomb, has the same force as over 1 million TNTs. [4] All the data collected about North Korea is hard to analyze since it is a country in the dark. Therefore it is believed that they could posses any quantity of nuclear material. North Korea has conducted 6 known nuclear tests in the past ten years. [5] Most of which have been in the past five years. This increase of testing can prove the growth of their nuclear program. [6] As a result, after the the regime claimed to have weapons with nuclear capabilities that could reach the United States, the United State's government started a dialogue in order to address this possible growing concern.
President Trump has sat down and talked with Kim Jong-un several times the past couple of years and it has been said that agreements have been made. Nonetheless, it has been said that North Korea has not followed some of such and this has caused confusion and worry. [1] The military and firepower parades such as the one in Fig.1, are not a showing of peace and calm times but rather one of force. Such fear tactics do not help in the growing trust between America and North Korea. The progress of such talks is unclear but it seems as the new found power that North Korea posses has allowed them to negotiate with other countries.
© Alberto Abel Mestre Vivas. The author warrants that the work is the author's own and that Stanford University provided no input other than typesetting and referencing guidelines. The author grants permission to copy, distribute and display this work in unaltered form, with attribution to the author, for noncommercial purposes only. All other rights, including commercial rights, are reserved to the author.
[1] S. -H. Choe, "North Korea Stages Huge Military Parade - Without Its ICBMs," New York Times, 9 Sep 18.
[2] D. Berrios, "North Korea's Nuclear Weapon Capabilities," Physics 241, Stanford University, Winter 2017.
[3] J. Kim, "South Korea Says North's Nuclear Capability 'Speeding Up', Calls For Action," Reuters, 8 Sep 16.
[4] M. Chan, "What Is the Difference Between a Hydrogen Bomb and an Atomic Bomb?," Time, 22 Sep 17.
[5] D. Albright, "North Korea's Nuclear Capabilities: A Fresh Look," Institute for Science and National Security, April 2017.
[6] J. Mullen, "Tough U.N. Action Vowed After North Korean Nuclear Test," CNN, 12 Feb 13.
