CNN:
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un heads into 2017 with two things that loom ominous for the rest of the world — he’s tested a nuclear weapon, and no one really knows how willing he’d be to use one in anger.
North Korea conducted two nuclear tests in 2016, one in January and another, its most powerful ever, in September. Add that to a string of missile tests, both land- and sea-launched, and the world has plenty of reason for worry.
“Combining nuclear warheads with ballistic missile technology in the hands of a volatile leader like Kim Jong Un is a recipe for disaster,” Adm. Harry Harris, the head of the US military’s Pacific Command, said in a December speech.
Bruce Bennett, senior defense analyst at the Rand Corporation think tank, went further still, saying Kim “might be considered the world’s most dangerous man.”
But just how much of a threat does North Korea pose?
Pyongyang’s September test put North Korea’s nuclear program in its strongest position ever, at least according to the Kim regime, which claimed to have successfully detonated a nuclear warhead that could be mounted on ballistic rockets.
North Korean state media said the test would enable North Korea to produce “a variety of smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear warheads of higher strike power.” Western experts fear that could expand the range of North Korea’s nuclear weapons, possibly putting Alaska, Hawaii or even the US mainland in danger.
