Pyongyang Poised To Establish Itself as a Full Fledged Nuclear Power
 

Dec. 26, 09 (Hamsayeh.Net) - South Korean and Western sources say North Korea is poised to conduct a fresh nuclear test sometime next year. A state-run South Korean think tank reported that the purpose behind the upcoming test is for Pyongyang to establish itself as a nuclear power, in a report by Yonhap. 

 

Based on an investigation published by the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, North Korea conducted two nuclear tests in which the second test was five times more power than the first one, meaning the country’s engineers were making progress in their capabilities to build more powerful bombs. ‘A third test would increase the possibility of the international community accepting North Korea as a nuclear weapons state,’ the report was quoted as saying. North Korea resumed works on nuclear devices soon after talks with the US and its allies failed to convince Pyongyang about the security issues on the Korean Peninsula.

 

United States, Japan and South Korea promised real economic incentives to the North Koreans but failed to deliver on their promises and further threatened to isolate the nation pressuring North Korea in a way that did amount to total capitulation.

 

However despite years of sanctions and political pressures, North Korea finally decided to conduct its first nuclear test on Oct. 09, 2006. It was estimated that North Korean engineers used some parts from nearly 60 kg of plutonium stocks to built a bomb as powerful as the one dropped on Hiroshima by the Americans during WWII.