MAPPED: Which countries have nuclear weapons? Does North Korea have nukes?
NORTH Korea has ramped up its nuclear weapons development program in recent weeks – but the hermit kingdom isn’t the only country to possess a lethal arsenal of nukes.
More than two dozen nations have nuclear power but there are nine accepted nuclear-capable states in the world.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) estimates there are more than 16,300 nuclear weapons around the world – of which the US and Russia possess 93 per cent of them despite reducing their inventories.
The rest are shared out between China, India, Israel, France, the UK and Pakistan – and now also North Korea.
However Pyongyang is deemed the only state to not have weapons mature enough for effective use.
Where are the world’s nuclear weapons?
Nuclear states have always closely guarded the exact number of nuclear warheads in their arsenal.
But every year, the international nuclear weapons watchdog Federation of American Scientists (FAS) estimates the current amount of nuclear weapons around the globe.
Russia is thought to have the most with around 7,000 warheads, with the US closely following behind with an estimated 6,800.
France is though to have 300 warheads and China 270, while the UK is fifth with 215.
Pakistan and India are thought to have up to 130 and 120 each, while Israel has 80.
Does North Korea have nuclear weapons?
North Korea’s passionate drive to develop nuclear weapons of mass destruction is a well documented affair that dates back to the 1950s.
An April 2017 report by David Albright and Mark Gorwitz of the Institute for Science and International Security, claimed Pyongyang is in possession of an “improving nuclear weapons arsenal”.
The report outlined dramatic progress in North Korea’s nuclear build up, pointing towards procurement from abroad and a functioning industrial complex dedicated to producing plutonium and weapon-grade uranium.
The report said: “The bottom line is that North Korea has an improving nuclear weapons arsenal.”
And the Washington-based institute estimates the regime has between 13 and 30 nuclear weapons, based on North Korea’s production capabilities, while the FAS suggests 20 to 40 warheads.
But official US estimates have been more generous, predicting the regime possessed as many as 60 nukes in July.
Alongside Israel, India and Pakistan, North Korea is not a signatory of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, after withdrawing in 2003.
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