Deutsche WelleConflicts North Korea quietly ramps up its nuclear program Wesley Rahn
With Washington’s attention elsewhere, North Korea has slowly been building up its nuclear weapons program. This week, Kim Jong Un took a publicity tour of a new nuclear fuel facility while promising to build more bombs.
On Thursday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reminded the world of Pyongyang’s nuclear threat, announcing plans to bolster nuclear forces “at an exponential rate,” as state media carried footage of Kim visiting what South Korea said was likely a new uranium enrichment plant.
The plant’s unveiling came a week after the North Korean Foreign Ministry issued a statement vowing that the “denuclearization” of North Korea “will never happen.”
This was in response to the foreign ministers of the US, Japan, India and Australia, which comprises the so-called Quad grouping, calling for the “complete denuclearization” of North Korea after a meeting in New Delhi.
North Korea has become more defiant in building up its nuclear program, with Kim declaring in February 2026 that North Korea’s status as a nuclear state is “completely and absolutely irreversible.”
Kim also insisted that any negotiation or diplomatic engagement with the US was contingent on Washington recognizing North Korea as a nuclear-armed state.
North Korea digs in on nuclear weapons
North Korea’s nuclear program has drawn little attention so far during the second term of US President Donald Trump, who met Kim three times during his first term.
However, Trump’s high-profile US-North Korea summits in 2018 and 2019, which focused on getting Kim to abandon his nuclear weapons, went nowhere. Since then, North Korea has been laying the institutional and physical groundwork for a more robust nuclear weapons program.
In 2023, North Korea amended its constitution to enshrine its “nuclear force-building policy.” At the same time, Pyongyang has degraded ties with South Korea, calling it a “hostile state” and dropping any pretense of “reunification.”
In early May 2026, South Korean intelligence revealed that Pyongyang had codified an “automatic nuclear launch” policy into law, if the central command-and-control apparatus or Kim himself is targeted by “hostile forces.”
In April 2026, US Assistant Secretary of Defense Robert Kadlec told the Senate Armed Services Committee that North Korea’s nuclear forces “are increasingly capable of targeting the US,” and its missile forces “can strike South Korea and Japan with nuclear or conventional warheads.”
“These forces are growing in size and sophistication, and they present a clear and present danger of nuclear attack,” Kadlec said.
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Kelsey Davenport, director for nonproliferation policy at the Washington-based Arms Control Association, told DW it has been “years since the United States has had an effective strategy and serious engagement policy toward North Korea.”
Still, she added the US and its allies “should not give up on denuclearization as an end goal.” She said that freezing and later rolling back North Korea’s nuclear weapons program would depend first on “stabilizing the US-North Korean relationship and reducing the risks of conflict.”
What are North Korea’s nuclear strike capabilities?
According to the US intelligence community’s 2026 Annual Threat Assessment (ATA) released in March, North Korea is “committed to expanding its strategic weapons programs, including missiles and nuclear warheads, to solidify its deterrent capability.”
Another threat assessment from 2025 said Kim was prioritizing developing tactical nuclear weapons, “smaller and lighter” nuclear weapons, along with “ultra-large nuclear warheads.”
Assessing how many nuclear warheads North Korea currently possesses is difficult, as any independent oversight is not currently possible. In 2024, the Federation of American Scientists estimated that North Korea possesses enough fissile material to produce 90 warheads, but has probably assembled around 50.
US intelligence that same year assessed that North Korea had “unveiled a purported tactical nuclear warhead and claimed it could be mounted on at least eight delivery systems, including an unmanned underwater vehicle and cruise missiles.”
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North Korea has also tested several intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) since 2017, which US intelligence estimates are intended to enable strikes against targets in the continental United States.
In 2025, the North said it had tested a hypersonic missile that is fast enough to evade air defenses.
Other advances include the development of multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) payloads that would allow a single ballistic missile to carry multiple warheads.
US intelligence also assesses that North Korea has benefited from Russian know-how and technology in exchange for supporting Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Over the past eight years, North Korea’s nuclear arsenal has expanded both quantitatively and qualitatively,” said Davenport, adding that the arsenal is being expanded to include sea-based assets.
Will North Korea test another nuclear weapon?
North Korea has carried out six underground nuclear tests since 2006, with Pyongyang claiming the last test in 2017 was a hydrogen bomb that could be carried on an ICBM.
A year later, the North said it would not carry out further tests. But according to a 2025 US intelligence report, North Korea has “restored its nuclear test site and is now postured to conduct a seventh nuclear test at a time of its choosing.”
However, arms control expert Davenport said it is unlikely North Korea would carry out another test “without a clear technical rationale.”
Kim Jong Un “may be waiting to test until it is necessary to verify a new warhead design,” she said.
“North Korea pays a price for nuclear tests,” added Davenport, pointing out that a new nuclear test would make it hard for allies Russia and China to shield Pyongyang from international condemnation and UN Security Council action.
North Korea’s regime continues to insist that nuclear weapons are a deterrent essential to its survival. And as Pyongyang looks at the regime in Iran coming under attack, it will see little reason to alter its strategy.
However, despite the rapid pace of North Korean nuclear development, the 2026 US threat assessment concludes the regime remains unlikely to use these weapons in any offensive capacity as “North Korea is likely to remain deterred by US and allied forces.”
Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru
