North Korea spends a greater proportion of its money on defence than any other nation.
N orth Korea spends a greater proportion of its money on defence than any other nation. The reclusive state spent nearly a quarter of its GDP on the military over the past decade, according to US government estimates.
Yet beyond its high profile nuclear and cyber weapons programmes, analysts say the country’s armed forces are undermined by badly outdated equipment and vehicles.
North Korea has been carrying out underground tests of increasingly big nuclear bombs since 2006. It is estimated to have enough plutonium for at least five or six bombs.
T he key question is whether it can make miniaturised nuclear warheads that could be placed in ballistic missiles to hit distant targets.
Siegfried Hecker, a nuclear weapons expert, said last year that “we must assume” North Korea has designed and demonstrated nuclear warheads for short and perhaps medium range missiles that could strike targets in Asia. He said the ability to fit a nuclear warhead to a missile capable of reaching the United States “is still a long way off—perhaps 5 to 10 years, but likely doable if the program is unconstrained”.
North Korea is believed to have more than 1,000 missiles of varying ranges. Short range missiles such as Hwasong-5 and Hwasong-6 (both variants of Scud missiles) can easily hit targets in South Korea, while medium range Nodong missiles can hit all of Japan.
L onger range Musudan missile has an estimated range of anywhere from 1,550 to 2,500 miles. At the top end it could reach US military bases on Guam.
