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Congressional Research Servie
Inforrning the legislative debate since 1914
0
Updated May 23, 2025
North Korea's Nuclear Weapons and Missile Programs
Overview
North Korea continues to advance its nuclear weapons and
missile programs despite UN Security Council sanctions
and high-level diplomatic efforts. The country's ballistic
missile testing, military parades, and policy statements
suggest that North Korea is continuing to build a nuclear
warfighting capability designed to 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
questions about crisis stability and escalation control.
Congress may wish to examine U.S. policy toward North
Korea.
U.S. policy as well as UN resolutions call on North Korea
to abandon its nuclear weapons and missile programs. In
recent years, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has
repeatedly rejected denuclearization talks. According to
the U.S. intelligence community's 2025 annual threat
assessment (ATA), Kim Jong-un views nuclear weapons as
a guarantor of regime security.
In response, the United States and South Korea have
conducted joint military drills and exercises, and
established bilateral consultative mechanisms focused on
strengthening extended deterrence such as the Nuclear
Consultative Group to discuss nuclear and strategic
planning, and manage the threat the DPRK poses to the
global nonproliferation regime. The Biden
Administration's 2022 Nuclear Posture Review said, Any
nuclear attack by North Korea against the United States or
its Allies and partners is unacceptable and will result in the
end of that regime. It maintains that U.S. nuclear weapons
will continue to play a role in deterring rapid strategic
attacks by North Korea in East Asia..
Nuclear Doctrine and Plans
Kim Jong Un 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.
At the 8th North Korean Workers Party Congress in January
2021, Kim announced a Five-Year Defense Plan that said
the country would field a new nuclear-capable submarine,
develop its tactical nuclear weapons, deploy multiple
warheads on a single missile, and improve its ICBMs'
accuracy, among other goals. The plan includes
development of an ICBM with a range of 15,000 km for
preemptive and retaliatory nuclear strike, and ground-
based and sea-based solid-fueled ICBMs. Some analysts
predict an increase in missile testing this year in order to
meet these goals by 2026.
The Korea People's Assembly adopted a new law in
September 2022 that reportedly expands the conditions
under which North Korea would use nuclear weapons to
include possible first use in situations that threaten the
regime's survival. In September 2023, Kim promised to
boost nuclear weapons production exponentially and
diversify nuclear strike options.
Nuclear Testing
North Korea has tested a nuclear explosive device six times
since 2006. Each test produced underground blasts
progressively higher in magnitude and estimated yield.
North Korea conducted its most recent test on September 3,
2017. A North Korean press release stated it had tested a
hydrogen bomb (or two-stage thermonuclear warhead) that
it was perfecting for delivery on an intercontinental ballistic
missile. In April 2018, North Korea announced that it had
achieved its goals, would no longer conduct nuclear tests,
and would close down its Punggye-ri nuclear test site. It
dynamited the entrances to two test tunnels in May 2018.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reports say
North Korea began restoring test tunnels in March 2022. A
recent U.S. Department of Defense report said that North
Korea has restored its nuclear test site and is now postured
to conduct a seventh nuclear test at a time of its choosing.
Nuclear Material Production
North Korea reportedly continues to produce fissile
material (plutonium and highly enriched uranium) for
weapons. Fissile material production in large part
determines the number and type of nuclear warheads a
country is able to build.
North Korea restarted its plutonium production facilities
after it withdrew from a nuclear agreement in 2009, and is
also operating centrifuge uranium enrichment plants at the
Yongbyon nuclear complex and possibly at Kangson. In
March 2025, the IAEA reported construction and operations
at the Yongbyon uranium centrifuge enrichment plant,
undeclared enrichment facilities at both Kangson and
Yongbyon, and activities at the Radiochemical Laboratory
plant and Experimental Light Water 5MW(e) Reactor site.
Spent fuel from that reactor is reprocessed at the
Radiochemical Laboratory to extract plutonium for
weapons. The IAEA also reported ongoing uranium mining,
milling, and concentration activities at Pyongsan.
Nuclear Warheads
North Korean government statements show that the country
is aiming to increase its stockpile of nuclear warheads and
improve their design for a variety of delivery systems.
Some nongovernmental experts estimate that North Korea
has produced enough fissile material for up to 90 warheads
but may have assembled approximately 50. Another goal of
a nuclear weapon program is to lower the size and weight
of a nuclear warhead for deployment on missiles, called
miniaturization. A July 2017 DIA assessment asserted
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