Aljazeera
Who is in range of its missiles?
“The entire mainland of the US is within the range of our nuclear weapons and the nuclear button is always on the desk of my office” said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said during his 2018 New Year’s address.
The Hwasong-15, North Korea’s furthest-reaching intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), could theoretically travel about 13,000km. This potentially puts the whole world within range, except for:
Latin America
Antartica
This theoretical range was estimated based on the Hwasong-15 performance in a test-launch on November 29, when it flew for about 53 minutes before landing in the sea.
Earlier in July, North Korea’s test-launched the Hwasong-14, with a theoretical range of 10,400km. The missile flew for about 45 minutes before landing in the Sea of Japan.
On September 15, North Korea’s also tested its mid-range Hwasong-12 missile which travelled about 3,700km over Japan, and has a range potential of 4,000km, which includes Guam, a US territory in the Pacific Ocean.
Can the missiles be shot down?
The US, South Korea and Japan are equipped with anti-missile systems that could potentially intercept and destroy ballistic missiles fired from North Korea, although missile intercept failures are common.
The US’ anti-missile system was declared ready in 2004, but since then many intercept tests have failed.
South Korea has six Terminal High-Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) batteries deployed in Seongju, south of Seoul, and Japan is also equipped with the Patriot and the Aegis anti-ballistic missile systems.
Can it launch a nuclear attack?
North Korea claims that it can mount miniaturised nuclear warheads on its missiles, but these claims have not been independently verified.
To launch a nuclear attack, North Korea would need to produce nuclear devices small enough to fit on its missiles – this is not known to have yet been successfully developed and tested.
In March 2016, North Korea’s KCNA news agency released a photo of Kim Jong-un in front of a small, ball-like object which it said was a miniaturised nuclear warhead.
In September 2017, KCNA released a photo of the North Korean leader inspecting what it said was a hydrogen bomb that can be loaded on an ICBM.