IT IS hard to see what might deflect North Korea from becoming a fully-fledged nuclear power. On February 7th it fired an Unha-3 satellite launch rocket into space, just one month after the test of a nuclear device that the North claimed, somewhat unconvincingly, was a hydrogen bomb. The expressions of outrage from the international community and regional neighbours, particularly Japan and South Korea, were the same then as now. The UN Security Council duly held an emergency meeting. America’s secretary of state, John Kerry, repeated his calls for additional international sanctions against North Korea, which were rejected by the rogue state’s only supposed ally, China.
The launch of the three-stage rocket, the second since December 2012, is widely seen as part of a programme to develop an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM). Experts believe that if modified to carry a 2,200-pound (1,000-kg) warhead instead of a satellite, the Unha-3 could reach Alaska and possibly Hawaii. However, to get a usable ICBM, North Korea’s scientists will have to master additional technologies. First, they must make a nuclear warhead small enough to be...Continue reading
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