North Korea is the only country to have left the treaty against the spread of nuclear weapons and then built them. It has tested six devices, is thought to have around fifty warheads and material for more, and has flown missiles with the range to reach any American city. A law of 2022 declares the arsenal permanent and allows its use first. A series of Security Council resolutions demands that it be given up. The North tests more missiles each year than the year before, and since 2024 no United Nations body monitors whether the sanctions are kept.
The wider conflict and each side's full account: The Korean peninsula.
Where it stands · September 2026
North Korea commissioned a destroyer it says can carry nuclear arms into its fleet on 7 September, during joint United States and South Korea drills. The International Atomic Energy Agency reported on 9 September that North Korea has built a new uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon. North Korea fired short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea on 11 September, according to South Korea, and fired ballistic missiles into the sea on 20 September, which drew protests from Japan and South Korea. On 22 September it tested a new hypersonic weapon, which Kim Jong Un called a success.
What the dispute is about
Reversible or not. American and South Korean policy still names complete denuclearisation as the goal. The North's constitution and law now rule it out. Many officials on the other side privately accept that the realistic aims are limits and risk reduction, which would mean accepting the North as a nuclear state.
What sanctions do. They ban the North's exports of coal, textiles and labour and cap its oil. They have not slowed the programme. China and Russia no longer enforce them, and the North earns billions by stealing cryptocurrency and selling arms to Russia.
What the tests are for. Each launch improves a weapon, answers an exercise, and reminds Washington that ignoring the North has a price.
