North Korea Nuclear Weapons More Powerful Than Previously Thought

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SATELLITE images of Kim Jong-un’s main missile test site reveal North Korea’s weapons are far more powerful that first thought.

And trigger-happy Kim could soon have long-range weapons capable of reaching Alaska and Hawaii.

Careful analysis of North Korean tests sites, using images from Planet, reveal the regime has gradually been building up the size of its missiles.

Scorch marks on the ground show that it may now be testing the Hwasong-12 rocket – capable of flying 4,500miles.

That would put the US military base at Guam, Hawaii, and Alaska within range reports Quartz.com.

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The detailed satellite images are so precise that a private plane believed to whizz Kim around the country to watch missile tests is clearly visible.

And experts are not convinced a series of failed tests mean the program is failing.

Joseph S. Bermudez Jr, an analyst a US firm Allsource Analysis, told the Wall Street Journal: “What’s more concerning is not an individual test or two individual tests, it’s that they’re approaching their missile development in a very pragmatic way.

“What they’re doing is exactly right. They are testing, and they are testing often.

“This is the way you really learn how to develop a ballistic missile, and that’s what worries me.”

Vladimir Putin yesterday waded into the North Korea crisis and told Donald Trump: ‘Stop bullying Kim.’

Russia’s ironman leader warned the “intimidation” of Kim Jong-un’s regime must end.

He said: "We must stop intimidating North Korea and find a peaceful solution to this problem."

But Vlad also had words of warning for the wannabe nuclear state - telling Kim he must not build his nuclear arsenal.

One test landed within 60 miles of Russia's Far Eastern coast on Saturday night.

At a meeting on his state visit to China, Putin added: "We are categorically against the expansion of the club of nuclear powers.

"We consider [the missile test] counter-productive, harmful and dangerous."

Despot Kim is trying to fit a nuclear warhead to one of his ballistic missiles - the largest of which it is feared could hit the US.

Following the latest test, a White House statement said: "With the missile impacting so close to Russian soil – in fact, closer to Russia than to Japan – the President cannot imagine that Russia is pleased.

“North Korea has been a flagrant menace for far too long. South Korea and Japan have been watching this situation closely with us.

“The United States maintains our ironclad commitment to stand with our allies in the face of the serious threat posed by North Korea.

“Let this latest provocation serve as a call for all nations to implement far stronger sanctions against North Korea.”

(h/t) The Sun