North Korea has carried out a fifth nuclear test

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The world is worryingly impotent in the face of Pyongyang’s increasing forcefulness

IT WAS just a matter of time until North Korea carried out another test of a nuclear bomb. Since Kim Jong Un inherited power from his father in 2011, he has accelerated the pace of trials of nuclear bombs and ballistic missiles. The imposition of new sanctions this year and stern talk at the ASEAN summit this week will not have pleased Pyongyang. So it was that on September 9th, the holiday that celebrates the founding of North Korea’s communist regime by Mr Kim’s grandfather, the country announced that it had carried out its fifth test.

The force of the explosion appeared to be at least 10 kilotons, and perhaps as many as 30, making it by far the most powerful device North Korea has yet tested. It triggered an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.3, alerting South Korea of the event before its troublesome neighbour confirmed it. By comparison, North Korea’s previous test, in January this year, was estimated at six kilotons. (The prior three were in 2013, 2009 and 2006.)

North Korea’s increasing forcefulness is making the international community extremely nervous. It is thought to have a stockpile of some 20 devices to which it adds one every six weeks. The underground detonation carried out in January almost certainly was not the hydrogen bomb that North Korea claimed, but it has been followed by a series of missile tests. The government’s claim that it can now send a missile to America may be bluster, but it could almost certainly strike targets in both South Korea and Japan.

Most worrying is the question of whether North Korea can make a nuclear warhead small enough to put on one of those missiles, and robust enough to endure a trajectory that would take it into space and back. The North boasts that it can, although observers are sceptical. Yet there is no doubt that it is making rapid progress in its nuclear programme. It is clearly a priority for Mr Kim, who seems to be devoting even more of North Korea’s relatively meagre resources to it than his father did. Japanese officials and those in other neighbouring states fret that the young Mr Kim is far less predictable than his father. Partly that is because the strength of his grip on the regime is unknown. That three of North Korea’s five nuclear tests have been carried out during his five-year rule suggests he wants to project strength domestically. That could be because he feels insecure, but might equally reflect self-confidence.

Read more: http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21706724-world-worryingly-impotent-face-pyongyangs-increasing-forcefulness-north-korea-has?

[JonathanRackham]

1. I'm scared these morons will put it on a ship and sail it somewhere.

We live in an age where suicide bomber-martyrs are common.

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2. If Trump is elected the world could see

how a raving lunatic responds to a raving lunatic.