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North Korea?
Thats how the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 worked:
by suddenly splitting the nucleus of an atom of uranium or plutonium,
releasing enormous amounts of energy.
By the early 1950s physicists were using nuclear fusion instead
detonating a fission trigger bomb to smash atoms of hydrogen or other
elements into one another at high speed, creating a new nucleus and a
second explosion.
This releases even more energy. In 1961 Russias AN602 Tsar bomb
created a blast yield equivalent to 50 megatons of TNT about 3,000 to
4,000 times more powerful than the device dropped on Hiroshima.
In 2012 the countrys military showed off six new KN08 long-range
intercontinental ballistic missiles mounted on massive carriers at a military
parade.
Experts soon dismissed them as mock-ups rather than working missiles.
But recent analysis suggests the North may have developed a simpler,
more reliable version with a range of roughly 5,500 miles, enough to hit the
west coast of the United States.
Various arms of the US defence and security community seem to have
different opinions on whether the KN08 could deliver a nuclear warhead to
the continental United States.
A spokesman for the US National Security Council was quoted last year as
saying: We do not think that they have that capacity.
However, they are working on developing a number of long-range missiles,
including intercontinental ballistic missiles, that could eventually threaten
our allies and the homeland.
A declassified report from the Defence Intelligence Agency said it assesses
with moderate confidence the North currently has nuclear weapons capable
of delivery by ballistic missiles. It added: However, the reliability will be
low.
But Admiral Bill Gortney from the Department of Defense said last year:
Our assessment is that they have the ability to put it on a nuclear
but detailed analysisfrom IISS suggests most of the subs are either obsolete
Russian machines or North Korean-made vessels of questionable quality.
Researchers at BBC Monitoring think the most modern fighter planes flown
by North Koreas air force are Soviet-era Mig-29s dating back to the late
1980s, with perhaps only a handful of these still fit to fly.
The US Department of Defense says the North fields primarily legacy
equipment, either produced in, or based on designs of, the Soviet Union
and China, dating back to the 1950s, 60s and 70s, though a few systems
are based on more modern technology.
But even old weapons can still be deadly, and North Korea has sunk South
Korean ships and shelled its neighbours territory in recent years.
The American assessment concludes that the North Korean military poses
a serious threat to the Republic of Korea, its other neighbors, and US forces
in the region.
Should we panic?
No, although experts are concerned at the latest bomb test, and what it
suggests about international efforts to restrain North Koreas nuclear
ambitions.
The UN and individual countries have hit North Korea with sanctions in the
past for its nuclear tests. In 2012 the US cancelled a food aid programme
after Pyonyang launched a satellite into orbit.
Even the countrys closest ally, China, has expressed its displeasure over
bomb testing.
Timothy Stafford from the Royal United Services Institute think-tank told us:
The big takeaway from today is that western policy has failed.
Clearly, the North Koreans are not interested in nuclear non-proliferation.
They are prepared to run the risk of sanctions. They are pursuing it to the
extent that even when the Chinese want them to stop, they dont.
This is another quite significant step on the road that they were on already.
That particular path does end up in quite a problematic situation. All things
remaining equal, they will develop a working nuclear weapons scope and
the ability to deliver it far and wide.
Dr Heather Williams from Kings College Londons Centre for Science and
Security Studies said: With regard to North Korea, there really are no easy
options.
If there are more sanctions, the people who are going to feel the brunt of
that are not the Kim regime, but the North Korean people.
The best course of action is to continue to stigmatise North Korea and
make them a pariah of the international community.
Posted by Thavam