North Korea's nuclear programme remains a source of deep concern for the international community. In January, it announced it was planning to carry out its third nuclear test. The BBC looks at North Korea's nuclear ambitions and multi-national efforts to curtail them. Has North Korea got the bomb? Technically yes, but not yet the means to deliver it via a missile. In 2006 and again in 2009 North Korea announced that it had conducted successful nuclear tests - both of them came just weeks after it was sanctioned by the UN for launching rockets. Satellite data from P'unggye-yok, in a remote area in the east of the country, appeared to tally with claims that the experiments had beenconducted underground. Analysts believe those tests used plutonium as the fissile material.
The North is believed to possess enough weapons-grade plutonium for at least six bombs - but experts say it has not yet solved the problem of making a nuclear warhead small enough to fit into a missile. Opinions vary on how close the regime is to completing this process of "miniaturisation".
What are the plans for a third test?
Speculation mounted in 2012 that North Korea was planning its third test, with satellite analysis of the P'unggye-yok site indicating a deep tunnel was being prepared. This was heightened by the launch in December of another long-range rocket, which put a satellite in space. In January, North Korea confirmed it was planning to carry out a "high-level nuclear test" aimed at its "arch-enemy", the US. It gave no time-frame for the test nor any explanation of "high-level". Some analysts have suggested a third test could involve highly enriched uranium (HEU) rather than plutonium. In 2010, American expert Siegfried Hecker was shown a uranium-enrichment facility with 1,000 centrifuges and said he was "stunned" by the sophistication of the plant. He said he saw no evidence that the fuel was for anything other than generating power, but added that it could be "readily converted to produce highly enriched uranium bomb fuel". But he also told South Korea's Yonhap news agency late last year that a third test of a plutonium bomb could be sufficient for North Korea to be able master the miniaturisation technology "within a few years". There is a chance, he says, that it will test both plutonium and highly enriched uranium devices at the same time.
Kim Yong-Hyun, professor of North Korea studies at South Korea's Dongguk University told Reuters it was "highly possible that it will use HEU for the test when it happens". What is the current state of the North's programme? The Yongbyon site is thought to be its main nuclear facility. The North has pledged several times to halt operations there and even destroyed the cooling in 2008. But both the US and South Korea have said in the past that they believed the North had additional sites linked to a uranium-enrichment programme. Mr Hecker's revelations in 2010 of a hitherto undeclared plant suggest that clandestine nuclear work is continuing. In December 2010, US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said that the work being done at the site shown to Mr Hecker could not have been achieved if other related sites did not already exist.
"We're very conscious of the fact that, in the recent revelations to American delegations, what they saw did not come out of thin air," he said. "It certainly reflects work being done at at least one other site."In August last year, satellite images of Yongbyon showed a light water reactor - which Pyongyang said was for civilian energy purposes - was nearing completion. Experts say that reactor could be used to produce plutonium and the plant could be converted to produce highly enriched uranium for weapons. What has the international community done about the programme? Multiple rounds of negotiations have taken place between the North, the US, Russia, China, Japan and South Korea aimed at persuading Pyongyang to give up its nuclear ambitions.
In September 2005, after more than two years of on-off talks, North Korea agreed a landmark deal to give up its nuclear ambitions in return for economic aid and political concessions. But implementing the deal proved extremely difficult and the talks stalled in April 2009 over the issue of whether North Korea was fully disclosing its nuclear assets. In July 2011, contact began again between the US and North Korea aimed at restarting the talks. Less than six months later, North Korea's long-time leader Kim Jong-il died. He was succeeded by his son, the young Kim Jong-un.
In February 2012 North Korea suddenly announced it had agreed to suspend nuclear activities. It also said it was placing a moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests. Its reward would be food aid from the US. But that deal was suspended following Pyongyang's 13 April 2012 unsuccessful rocket launch. It then carried out a successful rocket launch in December 2012, prompting the UN to tighten sanctions. It also pledged "significant action" if North Korea carried out another nuclear test.
The US has warned that a third test would be "a mistake and a missed opportunity".
Why does the issue of North Korea's nuclear capability matter so much?
The two Koreas remain technically at war, since no peace treaty was signed after the 1950-53 Korean conflict. Tension has been high since an international panel blamed North Korea for sinking a South Korean navy warship in March 2010, with the loss of 46 lives. Ties were further strained in November 2010, when North Korea shelled a border island, killing four South Koreans. North Korea has a million-strong army and its border with the South is one of the most militarised in the world.
Pyongyang's nuclear tests have sparked debate in Japan on allowing its military the option to launch a pre-emptive strike if it fears a missile attack. A fully nuclear North Korea could trigger an East Asian arms race, as Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, for instance, consider whether to go nuclear as well.
The North is believed to possess enough weapons-grade plutonium for at least six bombs - but experts say it has not yet solved the problem of making a nuclear warhead small enough to fit into a missile. Opinions vary on how close the regime is to completing this process of "miniaturisation".
What are the plans for a third test?
Speculation mounted in 2012 that North Korea was planning its third test, with satellite analysis of the P'unggye-yok site indicating a deep tunnel was being prepared. This was heightened by the launch in December of another long-range rocket, which put a satellite in space. In January, North Korea confirmed it was planning to carry out a "high-level nuclear test" aimed at its "arch-enemy", the US. It gave no time-frame for the test nor any explanation of "high-level". Some analysts have suggested a third test could involve highly enriched uranium (HEU) rather than plutonium. In 2010, American expert Siegfried Hecker was shown a uranium-enrichment facility with 1,000 centrifuges and said he was "stunned" by the sophistication of the plant. He said he saw no evidence that the fuel was for anything other than generating power, but added that it could be "readily converted to produce highly enriched uranium bomb fuel". But he also told South Korea's Yonhap news agency late last year that a third test of a plutonium bomb could be sufficient for North Korea to be able master the miniaturisation technology "within a few years". There is a chance, he says, that it will test both plutonium and highly enriched uranium devices at the same time.
Kim Yong-Hyun, professor of North Korea studies at South Korea's Dongguk University told Reuters it was "highly possible that it will use HEU for the test when it happens". What is the current state of the North's programme? The Yongbyon site is thought to be its main nuclear facility. The North has pledged several times to halt operations there and even destroyed the cooling in 2008. But both the US and South Korea have said in the past that they believed the North had additional sites linked to a uranium-enrichment programme. Mr Hecker's revelations in 2010 of a hitherto undeclared plant suggest that clandestine nuclear work is continuing. In December 2010, US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said that the work being done at the site shown to Mr Hecker could not have been achieved if other related sites did not already exist.
"We're very conscious of the fact that, in the recent revelations to American delegations, what they saw did not come out of thin air," he said. "It certainly reflects work being done at at least one other site."In August last year, satellite images of Yongbyon showed a light water reactor - which Pyongyang said was for civilian energy purposes - was nearing completion. Experts say that reactor could be used to produce plutonium and the plant could be converted to produce highly enriched uranium for weapons. What has the international community done about the programme? Multiple rounds of negotiations have taken place between the North, the US, Russia, China, Japan and South Korea aimed at persuading Pyongyang to give up its nuclear ambitions.
In September 2005, after more than two years of on-off talks, North Korea agreed a landmark deal to give up its nuclear ambitions in return for economic aid and political concessions. But implementing the deal proved extremely difficult and the talks stalled in April 2009 over the issue of whether North Korea was fully disclosing its nuclear assets. In July 2011, contact began again between the US and North Korea aimed at restarting the talks. Less than six months later, North Korea's long-time leader Kim Jong-il died. He was succeeded by his son, the young Kim Jong-un.
In February 2012 North Korea suddenly announced it had agreed to suspend nuclear activities. It also said it was placing a moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests. Its reward would be food aid from the US. But that deal was suspended following Pyongyang's 13 April 2012 unsuccessful rocket launch. It then carried out a successful rocket launch in December 2012, prompting the UN to tighten sanctions. It also pledged "significant action" if North Korea carried out another nuclear test.
The US has warned that a third test would be "a mistake and a missed opportunity".
Why does the issue of North Korea's nuclear capability matter so much?
The two Koreas remain technically at war, since no peace treaty was signed after the 1950-53 Korean conflict. Tension has been high since an international panel blamed North Korea for sinking a South Korean navy warship in March 2010, with the loss of 46 lives. Ties were further strained in November 2010, when North Korea shelled a border island, killing four South Koreans. North Korea has a million-strong army and its border with the South is one of the most militarised in the world.
Pyongyang's nuclear tests have sparked debate in Japan on allowing its military the option to launch a pre-emptive strike if it fears a missile attack. A fully nuclear North Korea could trigger an East Asian arms race, as Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, for instance, consider whether to go nuclear as well.
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