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After North Korea and South Korea tested a series of ballistic missiles, tensions on the Korean peninsula have risen sharply in recent days.
On September 12, North Korea said test A “strategic” long-range cruise missile that successfully hit a target 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) away before falling into North Korean territorial waters.
Three days later, the two countries Test fire Ballistic missiles-guided munitions that can carry nuclear warheads or conventional warheads.
In the following infographic series, Al Jazeera explains the missile programs and military capabilities of North Korea and South Korea.
A brief history of the two countries
After the defeat of the Japanese Empire in World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union partitioned the Korean peninsula previously ruled by Japan.
The Soviet Union controlled the northern territory, and the United States controlled the south.
In 1950, with the support of China and the Soviet Union, North Korean troops invaded the South and triggered the Korean War.Alliance with the South, the United States deployed about 1.78 million army In the three-year war.
The two sides reached an armistice agreement, but did not sign a formal peace treaty.
(Al Jazeera)Military confrontation
Over time, both North Korea and South Korea have steadily increased their military spending.
North Korea has the fourth largest army in the world, with approximately 1.28 million active military personnel. International Strategic Research Institute.
According to data from the US State Department, North Korea is a country with a population of 25.8 million, and its military expenditures account for nearly a quarter of its gross domestic product (GDP)—more than any other country in the world.
The South Korean army has nearly 600,000 people, about half the size of North Korea.
However, it is also at least 26,400 U.S. troops 73 bases All over the country.
Camp Humphreys is the largest overseas military base in the United States, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the heavily guarded Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that separates the two Koreas.
As part of the Special Measures Agreement (SMA), the South Korean government pays $1 billion annually to obtain US military support.
(Al Jazeera)Missile program
According to data from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, North Korea has conducted more than 150 missile tests since 1984.Security Intelligence Service).
These range from short-range missiles (SRBM), which have a range of less than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles), to intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), which have a minimum range of 5,500 kilometers (3,400 miles), and are commonly used to carry nuclear weapons.
More than half of these tests were conducted in the past 10 years under the leadership of Kim Jong Un, who inherited power after his father’s death in 2011.
The 37-year-old young man threatened to continue manufacturing high-tech weapons against the United States and rejected the Biden administration’s call for dialogue, demanding that Washington first abandon its “hostile” policy.
(Al Jazeera)In May of this year, the Biden administration announced a new approach to North Korea, saying that it is still pursuing denuclearization, but is not prepared to offer any “big deal” to Pyongyang.
Over the years, North Korea’s ballistic missile range has gradually increased. In November 2017, it tested the Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile, which has an estimated range of 12,874 kilometers (8,000 miles) and can reach anywhere in the continental United States.
North Korea’s nuclear program
In 2003, North Korea withdrew from the “Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,” an international agreement designed by the United Nations to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons and weapon technology.
Three years later, under the leadership of Kim Jong Il, North Korea detonated its first nuclear weapon at the underground nuclear test site in Fengxili, deep in the mountainous area of the sparsely populated northeast.
Pyongyang conducted a total of six nuclear tests.
Recently, in September 2017, it is believed that more than 140 tons of hydrogen bombs, a significantly more powerful atomic bomb, have been tested.
exist August 2021The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it believes that North Korea has restarted a nuclear reactor used to produce plutonium, an atomic weapon. Since Pyongyang expelled its inspectors in 2009, the IAEA has been unable to enter North Korea.
North Korea has been subject to a number of international sanctions for its banned nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.
The US Army estimates that North Korea has an estimated 20 to 60 nuclear weapons.
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