A nuclear weapon detonating on United States soil would be a devastating blow to our country and to the world. If we were hit with a nuclear bomb, we would be forced to retaliate resulting in nuclear warfare. Some countries that are capable of engaging in nuclear warfare are China, Russia, The United Kingdom, France, North Korea, and many more. One of the more dangerous countries that could be a potential threat to this country is North Korea. North Korea has conducted five nuclear weapons tests. They conducted one in 2006, 2009, 2013, and two in 2016. These tests were very threatening to some countries because North Korea now had the capability of bombing other countries. North Korea could be a big threat, but is it realistic to think that North Korea is capable of attacking us with nuclear weapons?
North Korea has been very interested in nuclear weapons ever since World War 2. Since then, North Korea has constantly been trying to replicate a nuclear weapon like the ones the US have. North Korea has conducted five nuclear tests, but what really matters is how powerful they are, if they are using plutonium or uranium, and whether or not they can deliver. The way we can figure out how powerful the bombs are is if we know whether or not they are atomic bombs or hydrogen bombs. The first three nuclear tests conducted by North Korea were atomic bombs. Atomic bombs are less powerful than hydrogen bombs because they use a fission reaction instead of a fusion reaction. Atomic bombs were used against Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The nuclear test conducted in January of 2016 was proclaimed to be a hydrogen bomb, but there are many skeptics. Some people say that there is no way it was a hydrogen bomb because of the size of the explosion but we will never know because the particles cannot be analyzed. The next category we need to evaluate is whether or not they used plutonium or uranium. If plutonium is used, the nuclear stockpile would be small and finite because of how rare it is, but if they used enriched uranium they could make a large stockpile of nuclear weapons. Also if they used plutonium, the facilities would be easy to spot, but if they used uranium, they could be more secretive about it. The last category of whether or not North Korea is capable of launching nuclear attacks is whether or not they can deliver it over a large distance. In order for a nuclear device to be launched, it would need to be small enough to fit on the head of a missile. If they did this, they could launch nuclear attacks against anyone in range. On September 9, 2016, North Korea launched their fifth nuclear test. They claimed to have tested a miniaturized nuclear warhead on that day, although nobody has confirmed that. After that day, the US and South Korea agreed to try and convince North Korea to abandon their nuclear weapons program. If North Korea did in fact miniaturize their war head, they could be fully operation for a nuclear attack. The possibility of North Korea attacking the United States with a nuclear weapon is very unlikely in my opinion. The reason is because Kim Jung Un could be considered a crazy leader, but I highly doubt he would go as far as attack the US with nuclear weapons and therefore bringing his country into a nuclear war with the United States. If he did that he would be sentencing millions of people to the horrible painful death of radiation over time or the incineration of the bomb. Even if Kim Jung Un is crazy enough to attack our country with nuclear weapons, there are very many people who doubt that North Korea has the weapons capable of mass destruction. Even if they do have weapons of mass destruction, there are also people who doubt that North Korea has miniaturized those weapons so they can use them. In conclusion, I believe that the possibility of getting attacked by North Korea with nuclear weapons is very small.
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