SIPRI Yearbook 2010
X. North Korea’s military nuclear capabilities
North Korea is widely believed to have produced and separated enough plutonium to build a small number of nuclear warheads. However, the amount of plutonium that North Korea has separated from the spent fuel of its 5-megawatt electric graphite-moderated research reactor at Yongbyon, and hence the number of warheads it may have produced, has been the subject of controversy145. In addition, doubts persist about whether North Korea has the design and engineering skills needed to manufacture a fully functional operational nuclear weapon146. North Korea demonstrated a nuclear weapon capability by carrying out underground nuclear test explosions in October 2006 and May 2009147. In both cases the estimated yield of the test explosion was much lower than what the initial nuclear tests by nuclear weapon states have historically produced; this has led some experts to question if the detonation was fully successful148. According to the US intelligence community, the 2009 test ‘was apparently more successful than the 2006 test’149.
- Citation (MLA):
- Kile, Shannon N., Vitaly Fedchenko, Bharath Gopalaswamy, and Hans M. Kristensen. "8. World nuclear forces." SIPRI Yearbook. SIPRI. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2016. Web. 16 Feb. 2025. <https://www.sipriyearbook.org/view/9780199581122/sipri-9780199581122-div1-79.xml>.
- Citation (APA):
- Kile, S., Fedchenko, V., Gopalaswamy, B., & Kristensen, H. (2016). 8. World nuclear forces. In SIPRI, SIPRI Yearbook 2010: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Retrieved 16 Feb. 2025, from https://www.sipriyearbook.org/view/9780199581122/sipri-9780199581122-div1-79.xml
- Citation (Chicago):
- Kile, Shannon N., Vitaly Fedchenko, Bharath Gopalaswamy, and Hans M. Kristensen. "8. World nuclear forces." In SIPRI Yearbook 2010: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security, SIPRI. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016). Retrieved 16 Feb. 2025, from https://www.sipriyearbook.org/view/9780199581122/sipri-9780199581122-div1-79.xml
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