WASHINGTON, DC – The only nation to have pulled off the unwelcome feat of testing nuclear weapons this century, has been very busy in 2016. This month alone, North Korea launched what are thought to be two Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missiles – one on October 15 and another on October 19. “Mr. Kim has missile lust, and he’s not giving up,” Thomas Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Business Insider. “This twice-in-a-week stuff also suggests that they must have an inventory of these things that they’re willing and able to expend to advance the program,” Karako said. Here is a look at North Korea’s defiant rocket launches and nuclear detonations: January 6, 2016: Pyongyang announces the “perfect success” of its fourth nuclear weapons test with the detonation of a miniaturized hydrogen bomb. And while experts doubt the Hermit Kingdom developed and fired an H-bomb, the launch prompted tougher sanctions against the rogue regime. On October 9, 2006, North Korea became the eighth nation to join theworld’s nuclear weapons clubwith its testing of a nuclear device in the North Hamgyong Province.
February 7, 2016: A month after North Korea’s purported hydrogen bomb test, the rogue regime fired a long-range rocket. Pyongyang said the rocket was carrying a satellite for its space program; however, the launch is viewed by other nations, such as the US, Japan, and South Korea, as a front for testing an intercontinental ballistic missile as the technology is the same. March 2, 2016: In response to North Korea’s fourth nuclear test on January 6, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopts Resolution 2270. Resolution 2270 expands on existing sanctions and bans North Korean “launches using ballistic missile technology, even if characterized as a satellite or space launch.” The UN resolution also introduced a new requirement for all member states to “inspect cargo to/from the DPRK or brokered by the DPRK that is within or transiting their territories.” Read more about Resolution 2270 here » April 15, 2016: For the first time, North Korea tests the Musudan, an intermediate-range ballistic missile. The launch was widely viewed as a failure. The Musudan is speculated to have a range of approximately 1,500 to 2,400 miles, capable of targeting military installations in South Korea, Japan, and Guam, according to estimates from the Missile Defense Project. April 23, 2016: In complete defiance of UN Security Council resolutions, North Korea fires a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) off its east coast. The missile flew “for a few minutes” before exploding, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. Pyongyang first attempted a submarine-based missile launch in 2015. “A submarine launch poses an especially grave threat since it could catch the United States and allies by surprise,” Rebeccah Heinrichs, a fellow at the Hudson Institute specializing in nuclear deterrence and missile defense, told Business Insider. April 28, 2016: A week after Pyongyang’s SLBM test, the Hermit Kingdom fired two intermediate-range Musudan missiles. Both of the tests are reported as failures. At this point, North Korea has conducted three Musudan missile launches. May 6-9, 2016: Kim Jong Un hosts a three-day congress of North Korea’s ruling party during which he says his country will only use nuclear arms if its sovereignty is threatened. “Our republic is a responsible nuclear state that, as we made clear before, will not use nuclear weapons first unless aggressive hostile forces use nuclear weapons to invade on our sovereignty,” he said according to the Associated Press. May 30, 2016: The Hermit Kingdom tests another intermediate-range Musudan missile. At this point, North Korea has conducted four Musudan missile launches and they have all failed. June 21, 2016: Nearly a month later, Pyongyang carries out two more intermediate-range Musudan ballistic missile tests, which brings the total number, at this point, to six launches. This time, one of the tests was considered to be a partial success. June 22-23 2016: The UN Security Council meets for an emergency session on the heels of North Korea’s brazen missile tests. The next day, the council released a statement saying Pyongyang’s repeated ballistic missile launches “are in grave violation” of UN Security Council resolutions. July 6, 2016: In response to the Hermit Kingdom’s continued ballistic missile tests, the US Treasury Department sanctioned North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for “notorious abuses of human rights,” a decision that prompted the hermit kingdom to call the sanctions a “declaration of war.” The sanctions affect 10 other individuals besides the North Korean leader, five government ministries and departments, and property within US jurisdiction, according to the US Treasury Department statement. July 8, 2016: On the heels of bilateral sanctions by Seoul and Washington, plus layers of UN sanctions, the Pentagon agreed to equip South Korea with America’s most advanced missile defense system: the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD). Negotiations to deploy a THAAD battery to South Korea have been ongoing since president Park Geun-hye’s October 2015 visit to the White House. We spent a day with THAAD, read more about how this system works » In a move that has the Hermit Kingdom, China, and Russia spooked, South Korea’s military will have the unique air-defense system operational by the end of 2017.
July 9, 2016: As tensions rise on the peninsula, North Korea fires another SLBM. South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said the missile’s engine successfully ignited but the projectile exploded after flying for 6 miles, Reuters reports. July 18, 2016: North Korea fires three ballistic missiles off its east coast that had a range “from 500 kilometers to 600 kilometers, which is a distance far enough to strike all of South Korea including Busan,” the South Korea’s military said in a statement, Reuters reports. The launch comes days after the bilateral decision to deploy THAAD to the Korean peninsula in order to counter threats from the North. August 3, 2016: For the first time, North Korea fired a ballistic missile near Japanese-controlled waters, about 124 miles off of Japan’s coast. A simultaneous launch of two “No Dong” intermediate-range ballistic missiles near the western city of Hwangju were detected by US Strategic Command. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe described the launch as a “grave threat” to Japan and said Tokyo “strongly protested.” Japan also said its self-defence force would remain on alert in case of further defiant launches from the rogue nation. August 15, 2016: Approximately 908 South Koreans shaved their heads to protest against the bilateral decision to place THAAD in the southeastern county of Seongju. Since then, residents have protested THAAD’s deployment citing safety fears over the system’s sophisticated radar, its potential to be a wartime target, and concerns about health and environmental effects. August 24, 2016: South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported that the North has reportedly fired a submarine-based ballistic missile off the country’s eastern coast near the city of Sinpo. This is the first time a North Korean missile reached Japan’s air defence identification zone, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said during a briefing. According to Jeffrey Lewis of the California-based Middlebury Institute of International Studies and founder of Arms Control Wonk, the rogue nation’s latest test appears to be a success. “We don’t know the full range, but 500 km is either full range or a full range on a lofted trajectory. Either way, that missile works,” Lewis told Reuters. The Hermit Kingdom first attempted a submarine-based missile launch last year and again at the end of April this year. September 5, 2016: The Hermit Kingdom launched three medium-range Rodong-class ballistic missiles from a region called Hwangju, according to South Korea’s Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The North’s most recent launch comes hours after Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korean President Park Geun-hye met on the sidelines of the G20 Summit meeting. The test comes two weeks after the rogue regime fired a submarine-based missile off the country’s eastern coast near the city of Sinpo. At this point, North Korea has conducted a little more than 13 rounds of ballistic-missile tests and has fired 29 various rockets this year. September 9, 2016: On Friday, the 68th anniversary of North Korea’s founding, the rogue regime carried out its fifth and largest nuclear test. According to some estimates, the blast from the nuclear warhead mounted to a ballistic missile was more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. “That’s the largest DPRK test to date, 20-30 kiloton at least. Not a happy day,” Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, told Reuters. South Korea’s President, Park Geun-hye, called the test an act of “fanatic recklessness.” President Barack Obama condemned the launch and said in a statement, “the United States does not, and never will, accept North Korea as a nuclear state.” The Hermit Kingdom’s latest test comes just four days after it fired ballistic missiles in violation of UN Security Council resolutions (again). September 13, 2016: The US dispatches two B-1B Lancer strategic bombers from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, in response to North Korea’s largest nuclear test. The long-range supersonic strategic bombers were joined by Japanese F-2s for training to “enhance operational capabilities and the tactical skills of units.” The bombers were then joined by South Korean F-15s and US F-16s for a low-level flight in the vicinity of Osan, South Korea. Upon completion of the bilateral flight, the B-1Bs returned to Andersen Air Force Base. “These flights demonstrate the solidarity between South Korea, the United States, and Japan to defend against North Korea’s provocative and destabilizing actions,” US Pacific Commander Adm. Harry Harris said in a statement. Meanwhile, South Korea’s Defense Ministry spokesman said the rogue regime is ready to conduct an additional nuclear test at any time. September 20, 2016: Amid Pyongyang’s fifth and largest nuclear test, North Korean state media reports the completion of a ground test of a new rocket engine. A spokesman for South Korea’s military said the engine is likely to be used for a long-range missile, Reuters reports. October 15, 2016: At approximately at 10:33 p.m. CDT, the US military detected a failed North Korean missile launch near the northwestern city of Kusŏng. And while this test was declared a failure, Thomas Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, emphasizes that the North’s defiant missile testing is “no longer something that can be easily dismissed.” “Regardless of the discrete results of this particular test, it signals their continued resolve to get this right, meaning intermediate and longer range missiles. And they will get it right sooner or later, so we’d better be ready,” Karako told Business Insider. This presumed Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile test brings the count to seven launches. October 19, 2016: Less than a week after North Korea’s unsuccessful missile test, the Hermit Kingdom conducted another ballistic missile test. At 5:00 p.m. CDT near the northwestern city of Kusŏng, US Strategic Command detected a failed launch of a presumed Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile. Based on estimates from the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Musudan missile is speculated to have a range of approximately 1,500 to 2,400 miles, capable of targeting military installations in Guam and Japan. So far this year, North Korea has conducted eight Musudan missiles tests. All launches except the sixth one on June 22 were considered to be failures.
January 6: North Korea conducts its fourth ever nuclear weapons test.
February 7: The rogue regime fires a long-range rocket.
March 2: The UN Security Council passes a resolution to tighten existing restrictions on North Korea.
April 15: Pyongyang test launches the Musudan ballistic missile for the first time.
April 23: North Korea fires a submarine-launched ballistic missile.
April 28: The rogue regime tests two more Musudan missiles.
May 6-9: Kim Jong Un says ‘our republic is a responsible nuclear state’ during a three-hour speech at a North Korean congress.
May 30: Another Musudan missile test for the books.
June 21: The rogue regime pops off another two Musudan missiles, one of which is viewed as a success.
June 22-23: The UN Security Council holds an emergency meeting regarding North Korea’s continued missile tests.
July 6: For the first time, the US sanctions North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
July 8: US and South Korea agree to deploy America’s most advanced missile-defense system to the Korean peninsula.
July 9: The North fires off another SLBM.
July 18: The rogue regime fires three more ballistic missiles.
August 3: North Korea fires 2 more ballistic missiles, and this time one of them was headed toward Japan
August 15: South Koreans protest the THAAD.
August 24: The defiant SLBM tests from the Hermit Kingdom continue.
September 5: North Korea adds another three more ballistic missile tests to its running tally.
September 9: North Korea conducts its fifth and largest nuclear test.
September 13: US flies bombers over South Korea after the North’s latest nuke test.
September 20: Pyongyang conducts a ground test of a new rocket engine.
October 15: North Korea carries out its seventh Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile test.
October 19: Less than a week after the last test, the North conducts another Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile test.
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