IHS Jane’s 360:
North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme, based on the simultaneous development of a weaponisable nuclear device and ballistic missile delivery systems, appears to have advanced incrementally in early 2016.
Following Pyongyang’s claimed – although widely disputed – test of a ‘H-bomb’ (thermonuclear) device at its Punggye-ri complex on 6 January, and the launch of two short-range missiles into the Sea of Japan on 10 March, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on 14 March declared that his country would imminently conduct a “nuclear warhead explosion” test and a test launch of a nuclear-capable ballistic missile.
On 18 March, North Korea conducted two further ballistic missile tests. The South Korean military stated that the first projectile was launched from a site in the west of the country and travelled 800 km before coming down in the Sea of Japan off the east coast of the peninsula. A second projectile disappeared off the radar shortly after launch. An unnamed US official speaking to the Reuters news agency identified the projectile as a medium-range road-mobile missile, a description that would match North Korea’s No Dong. North Korea last tested this missile in March 2014, and before that in July 2009…
