North Korea

North Korea Tests Its Most Powerful Bomb Yet

On Sunday, North Korea tested its most powerful nuclear bomb yet, detonating a device that caused a 6.3 magnitude tremor. The weapon's sheer power has caused alarm but the fact that Pyongyang is claiming it can be fitted inside an intercontinental ballistic missile is sending shockwaves through Asia and beyond.

Using data from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the following infographic provides an overview of the strength of all North Korean nuclear tests since 2006. Sunday's detonation was estimated to have been 100 kilotons or more, far more powerful than previous tests and the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. How does it compare with the warheads inside current U.S. and Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles? According to the Economist, the U.S. Trident and Russian SS ballistic missiles have a yield of 455 and 800 kilotons respectively.

Description

This chart shows the estimated kiloton yield of nuclear bombs/North Korean tests.

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Maximum explosive yield of nuclear tests conducted by North Korea between 2006 and 2017, by nuclear test (in kilotons)
Strength of the most powerful nuclear weapons ever tested since 1945
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Number of ballistic missile tests conducted by North Korea from 1984 to September 2024, by test results
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Maximum range of ballistic missiles in North Korea as of September 2023 (in kilometers)
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North Korea's magnitude scale of man-made earthquakes caused by nuclear tests between 2006 and 2017
Estimated number of nuclear warheads by country in each year from 1945 to 2026

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