North Korea has test-fired two ballistic missiles

[IceWizard]

Reuters

US officials said the medium-range missiles, launched off the east coast, flew about 800km (500 miles) before falling into the water.

Afterwards, the US called for Pyongyang to refrain from raising tensions.

It comes a day after US President Barack Obama imposed new sanctions, following North Korea's "illicit" nuclear test and satellite launch.

His executive order freezes North Korean government property in the United States. It bans US exports to - or investment in - North Korea and also greatly expands powers to blacklist anyone, including non-Americans, dealing with North Korea.

The 6 January nuclear test and 7 February satellite launch were violations of existing UN sanctions, as are ballistic missile tests.

US defence officials said two launches had been tracked of what appeared to be Nodong missiles fired from road-mobile launch vehicles.

With a maximum range of 1,300km, the Nodong would have the capability to reach all of South Korea and parts of Japan.

North Korea's last Nodong test was in March 2014. Japanese PM Shinzo Abe condemned the launch and said his government would work with the US and South Korea to coordinate a response.

Lt Col Michelle Baldanza, from the US defence press office said: "We call on North Korea to refrain from actions that further raise tensions in the region."

Amid the heightened tensions, the North sentenced a US student to 15 years hard labour on Wednesday for "severe crimes" against the state.

The US demanded North Korea immediately release Otto Warmbier, 21, who was arrested for trying to steal a propaganda sign from a hotel while on a visit in January.

The US and South Korea are also holding their biggest annual military drills this month, which routinely generate tension. But this year North Korea threatened to launch a "pre-emptive nuclear strike of justice" against the US and South Korea.

North Korea's nuclear programme: How advanced is it?


North Korea's nuclear programme remains a source of deep concern for the international community. Despite multiple efforts to curtail it, Pyongyang says it has conducted four nuclear tests and there are indications it is developing long-range missile technology.


Has North Korea got the bomb?

Technically yes, but not the means to deliver it via a missile - yet.

North Korea said it conducted four successful nuclear tests in 2006, 2009, 2013 and 2016. Analysts believe the first two tests used plutonium, but whether the North used plutonium or uranium as the starting material for the 2013 test is unclear. While these three were atomic bomb tests, North Korea said its test in January 2016 was of a more powerful hydrogen bomb.

Again, the starting material is unclear and experts cast doubt given the size of the explosion registered.

H-bombs use fusion - the merging of atoms - to unleash massive amounts of energy, whereas atomic bombs use nuclear fission, or the splitting of atoms.

Shortly after that test Pyongyang launched a satellite, a launch widely seen as a test of long-range missile technology. The US said in February it had intelligence indicating that North Korea could soon have enough plutonium for nuclear weapons and was taking steps in making a long-range missile system.

What do we know about the North's nuclear programme?

The Yongbyon site is thought to be its main nuclear facility. The North has pledged several times to halt operations there and even destroyed the cooling tower in 2008 as part of a disarmament-for-aid deal.

However, the US never believed Pyongyang was fully disclosing all of its nuclear facilities - a suspicion bolstered when North Korea unveiled a uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon, purportedly for electricity generation, to US scientist Siegfried Hecker in 2010.

In March 2013, after a war of words with the US and with new UN sanctions over the North's third nuclear test, Pyongyang vowed to restart all facilities at Yongbyon.

In 2015 a US think tank said satellite pictures suggested the reactor at Yongbyon may have been restarted. Then in September, state media announced that "normal operation" had started at the production plant.

The January 2016 test was said to have been carried out at the Punggye-ri site. Both the US and South Korea have also said that they believed the North had additional sites linked to a uranium-enrichment programme.

The country has plentiful reserves of uranium ore.

What has the global community done about this?

The US, Russia, China, Japan and South Korea have engaged the North in multiple rounds of negotiations known as six-party talks, but none of this has ultimately deterred Pyongyang.

In 2005, North Korea agreed to a landmark deal to give up its nuclear ambitions in return for economic aid and political concessions. But implementing it proved difficult and talks stalled in 2009.

Then in 2012, North Korea suddenly announced it would suspend nuclear activities and place a moratorium on missile tests in exchange for US food aid,. But this came to nothing when Pyongyang tried to launch a rocket in April that year.

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The UN further tightened sanctions after the 2013 test.

The 2016 test brought another round of universal international condemnation, including from China, the North's main ally.

Did recent tests advance North Korea's nuclear capabilities?

After its 2013 test and again in 2015, North Korea claimed it had "miniaturised" a device, or made a device small enough to fit a nuclear warhead onto a missile - which the US cast doubt on.

Pyongyang also said the 2013 test had a much greater yield than the devices detonated in previous tests. It was indeed larger in force than previous ones, but monitors failed to detect radioactive isotopes - a key indicator - so uncertainty remains.

Claims of an underground test of a hydrogen bomb in January 2016 were met with plenty of scepticism. Initial estimates put the blast in the 10 to 15 kiloton range, whereas a full thermonuclear blast would be closer to 100 kilotons.

North Korea again claimed this was a successful test of a miniaturised device, and again it has not been verified.

[Mack30]

Thanks for the post Ice Wizard. N.Korea is always up to no good. China being close should just swat their hand and do away with them. Sorry, my bad side coming out. Worried about them for sure. A pest.

[Grandote]

I'm equally worried about the other nuclear countries including isreal. Why is it we bully iran endlessly, threaten to invade, sanctions, etc etc but n korea only gets sanctions when they have not only admitted they have the bomb but have tested it and launched missiles? Iran has no bomb but the neocons want them destroyed.

I have news for the neocons and the american public. USA is not the world police and can not be trusted as long as the current crop of psychopaths are in charge.

[Mack30]

Sorry Grandote, I mean no disrespect, in a lot of ways you are right. Our countries priorities are always in question. I do it every day. But I love my country, and I guess Americans have to live with the good and bad.

[IceWizard]

I love America, BUT.... Sometimes I just don't "like" it very much...

Ice

[forme]

North korea has the means to completely remove itself from the planet within our live times. And the negative effects would be minuscule!

[Mack30]

It is scary N. Korea having the bomb. They are always bad news and always calling bluffs. Someone has to do something and maybe it should not be the USA. China, Russia, and Japan, S.Korea all in the area.. If they can't take care of these guys I feel something bad could happen in the future