How dangerous is North Korea?
North Korea conducted its second nuclear test of 2016 on Friday, showing an increased willingness and ability to perform these tests on a more regular basis.
The explosion triggered a seismic tremor of a magnitude around 5, indicating the test was stronger than a similar nuclear test the nation conducted in January.
The strength of this test, and the speed with which North Korea was able to perform it so soon after the test earlier this year, indicate that the nation's nuclear program is becoming more efficient, according to experts on the country.
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"They've regularized this stuff instead of it just being a one-off," Michael Madden, who edits the website North Korea Leadership Watch, told Mashable. "What this means is they've devoted more resources in terms of personnel, and specifically construction personnel."
North Korea first tested a nuclear weapon in 2006. That weapon's power amounted to around one kiloton of TNT, compared with the estimated 10 kilotons of TNT contained in this blast. For context, the nuclear bomb the United States dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, contained 15 kilotons of TNT.
North Korea next tested a nuclear weapon in 2009, again in early 2013, and yet again early this year, establishing a pattern of one test around every three years.
This time, the subsequent test took only eight months.
"The pace and the presumed ambitions behind them have, I think, really begun to change the perception among Korea-watchers about the missile and the nuclear problem that they pose to both their neighbors and the United States," Thomas Karako, who heads the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Mashable.
In a statement following Friday's nuclear test, North Korea made it clear they are working toward developing nuclear warheads that they can mount on rockets fired by artillery units.
The nation is still at least years away from developing a missile that can reach as far as the continental United States, and it's unclear whether they would even be able to launch such an attack on neighboring countries such as South Korea or Japan.
But experts have raised their eyebrows at the rate of nuclear and missile tests, the latest of which occurred on Monday, when North Korea fired three missiles 600 miles into water inside Japan's air defense identification zone.
"Americans like to think that all problems have solutions, but this might be one you can only manage," Robert Manning, an expert on Asia at The Atlantic Council, told Mashable.
But he and others say the U.S. and other nations still have pressure to apply on North Korea.
"With a unified approach, and if leveraging sanctions is part of that approach, I think there could still be an option to try to slow and try to roll back North Korea's nuclear capabilities," Kelsey Davenport, the director for nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association, told Mashable. "It's certainly something the next president will have to prioritize."
Colin is Mashable's US & World Reporter. He previously interned at Foreign Policy magazine and The American Prospect. Colin is a graduate from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. When he's not at Mashable, you can most likely find him eating or playing some kind of sport.
