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1 1 (June 6, 2019)

handle is hein.crs/govzzc0001 and id is 1 raw text is: I Congressional Research Service lrfIfo r r g the ilative debate since 1914 0 Updated June 6, 2019 North Korea's Nuclear and Ballistic Missile Programs Overview North Korea has made recent advancements in its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. Since Kim Jong-un came to power in 2012, North Korea has conducted over 80 ballistic missile test launches. In 2016, North Korea conducted two nuclear weapons tests and 26 ballistic missile flight tests on a variety of platforms. In 2017, North Korea test launched 18 ballistic missiles (with five failures), including two launches in July and another in November that many ascribe as ICBM tests (intercontinental ballistic missiles). Most recently, North Korea tested short-range ballistic missiles on May 4 and 9. It last conducted a nuclear test in September 2017. In April 2018, Kim Jong Un said that nuclear and ICBM testing was no longer necessary. UN Security Council resolutions ban all ballistic missile tests by the DPRK. Testing as well as official North Korean statements suggest that North Korea is striving to build a credible regional nuclear warfighting capability that might evade regional ballistic missile defenses. Such an approach likely reinforces a deterrence and coercive diplomacy strategy- lending more credibility as it demonstrates capability-but it also raises serious questions about crisis stability and escalation control. Congress may further examine these advances' possible effects on U.S. policy. Nuclear Tests On September 3, 2017, North Korea announced that it had tested a hydrogen bomb (or two-stage thermonuclear warhead) that it said it was perfecting for delivery on an intercontinental ballistic missile. North Korea has tested a nuclear explosive device five other times since 2006. According to U.S. and international estimates, each test produced underground blasts that were progressively higher in magnitude and estimated yield. According to the North Korean test announcement, the country had achieved perfect success in the test of a hydrogen bomb for intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In April 2018, North Korea announced that it had achieved its goals and would no longer conduct nuclear tests, and would close down its test site. It dynamited the entrances to two test tunnels in May prior to the Trump-Kim summit. Kim Jong Un told Secretary Pompeo in an October meeting that he invited inspectors to visit the Punggye Ri nuclear test site to confirm that it has been irreversibly dismantled. Such an inspection has not yet occurred. Nuclear Material Production North Korea continues to produce fissile material (plutonium and highly enriched uranium) for weapons. North Korea restarted its plutonium production facilities after it withdrew from a nuclear agreement in 2009, and is operating at least one centrifuge enrichment plant at its Yongbyon nuclear complex. During the September 2018 North-South Pyongyang Summit, the North stated its willingness to pernanently disable the Yongbyon facilities if the United States took corresponding measures. U.S. officials have said that it is likely other clandestine enrichment facilities exist. Open-source reports, citing U.S. government sources, identified one such site at Kangson. There is no public U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) consensus of North Korea's fissile material stockpiles. News reports in August 2017 said that one component of the IC, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), had estimated a stockpile of up to 60 nuclear warheads. Nongovernmental open source estimates are based on material production activities at the Yongbyon site as well as past stockpile estimates. Some experts believe that North Korea could have potentially produced enough material for approximately 35 nuclear weapons, and that North Korea could now potentially produce enough nuclear material for an additional 7 warheads per year. Doctrine North Korean statements, taken at face value, appear to describe North Korea's nuclear arsenal as a deterrent to the U.S. nuclear war threats. In his 2017 New Year's address, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un stated that the North had achieved the status of a nuclear power, and promised to continue to build up our self-defense capability, the pivot of which is the nuclear forces, and the capability for preemptive strike ... to defend peace and security of our state. Kim also said at the 2016 Workers' Party Congress that nuclear weapons of the DPRK can be used only by a final order of the Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army (Kim Jong Un) to repel invasion or attack from a hostile nuclear weapons state and make retaliatory strikes. The U.S. intelligence community has characterized the purpose of North Korean nuclear weapons as intended for deterrence, international prestige, and coercive diplomacy, and that DPRK leaders view nuclear weapons as critical to regime survival. The North Korean leader pledged to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in the U.S.-DPRK Singapore Summit June 2018 statement. In its 2019 assessment to Congress, the DNI said that North Korea is unlikely to give up all of its nuclear weapons and production capabilities, even as it seeks to negotiate partial denuclearization steps to obtain key US and international concessions. Warheads and Delivery Systems According to the U.S. intelligence community, the prime objective of North Korea's nuclear weapons program is to develop a nuclear warhead that is miniaturized, or sufficiently lighter and smaller to be mounted on long-range https:!crsreports cong --ssqg

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