Page 48 - 2020 Defence White Paper

of nuclear materials. After the talks fell through over disagreement on the verification issue, however, in
2009, North Korea reactivated the nuclear facilities that were in the process of being disabled and
conducted the second nuclear test in May. The yield of the explosion in the second test was measured
at 3 to 4kt, representing significant improvement over the first test. Nevertheless, the yield was still less
than the force of the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which led to the assessment
that North Korea’s nuclear capability was lacking in terms of actual employment.

<North Korean Nuclear Tests>

Classification 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
January 6,
October 9, May 25, 2009 February 12, September 9, September 3,
2016
Date 2006 (Monday) (Monday) 2013 (Tuesday) (Wednesday) 2016 (Friday) 2017 (Sunday)
10:36 a.m. 9:54 a.m. 11:57 a.m 9:30 a.m. 12:29 p.m.
10:30 a.m.
Magnitude (mb) 3.9 4.5 4.9 4.8 5.0 5.7
Yield (kt) Approx. 0.8 Approx. 3-4 Approx. 6-7 Approx. 6 Approx. 10 Approx. 50

After putting forward the dual-track policy of economic and nuclear development in 2012, North Korea
spurred its efforts for advancing its nuclear and missile capabilities. The efforts resulted in four additional
nuclear tests in February 2013, January and September of 2016, and September 2017. The sixth test in
particular recorded an explosive force of around 50kt, and the significantly increased yield suggests that
a hydrogen bomb test was carried out.
After the nuclear tests, North Korea stressed its status as a nuclear state and claimed that it had
achieved the standardization, specification, miniaturization, weight reduction, and diversification of
nuclear warheads . It also declared its willingness to mass-produce and field deploy warheads and
3)
missiles.

2. Status and Assessment of Missile Development

To secure long-range delivery capabilities for its nuclear weapons, high explosives, and chemical/
biological weapons, North Korea has been committing workforce and resources to missile development

3) Meaning of standardization, specification, miniaturization, weight reduction, and diversification claimed by North Korea (published
on Rodong Sinmun on May 21, 2013 / Announced by the Nuclear Weapon Research Center on September 9, 2016)
- Standardization: refers to standardizing warheads so that they can be mounted on multiple types of missiles
- Specification: refers to determining the specifications of warheads and their components for mass production
- Miniaturization: refers to producing weapons with the explosive power of nuclear warheads less than 15kt
- Weight reduction: refers to reducing the total mass of nuclear warheads for mounting on missiles
- Diversification: refers to producing multiple types of nuclear weapons for different military objectives. Nuclear weapons can
be divided by type of nuclear reaction-atomic, hydrogen, and neutron bombs-as well as by range: strategic, tactical, and
theater weapons.

2020 Defense White Paper