Report to Congress on North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons and Missile Programs

U.S. Naval Institute ^ | MAY 28, 2025 | U.S. NAVAL INSTITUTE STAFF

[Retain Mike]

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.

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.

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.

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.

North Korea has accelerated the pace of its ballistic missile test launches since 2022. UN Security Council (UNSC) resolutions prohibit North Korea’s development of the means of delivering conventional and nuclear payloads. UNSC resolutions specifically ban “all ballistic missile tests” by North Korea. North Korea will likely continue testing and developing a variety of missiles to increase the reliability, effectiveness, and survivability of its ballistic missile force.

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TOPICS: Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: korea; north; nuclear; pyongyang; weapons

[ansel12]

The biggest European war since Stalin and Hitler, is seeing the forces of North Korea and Russia fighting together in Europe in a Russian invasion.