This composite photo, released by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency, shows an intermediate-range ballistic missile, Hwasong-12, being launched on Jan. 30, 2022. (Yonhap)
WASHINGTON, June 14 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korea spent over US$640 million in 2021 to further its nuclear ambition, a global nonproliferation organization said Tuesday.
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) also said the North is estimated to have 20 assembled nuclear weapons in its annual report, titled, “Squandered: 2021 Global Nuclear Weapons Spending.”
Noting there is “very little public information about North Korean nuclear spending or its military spending overall,” the report says South Korea annually estimates North Korea’s gross national income (GNI) and that Seoul placed the country’s GNI at 35 trillion North Korean won in 2020.
“North Korean military spending is very uncertain but in 2009 a South Korean think tank estimated North Korea spent $8.7 billion on its military, which represented about one-third (35%) of GNI at that time,” it said.
The report added that the North was estimated to have spent about 6 percent of its military budget on its nuclear program in 2011.
“Assuming that North Korea still spends 6% of its annual military spending on nuclear weapons, North Korea would have spent about 734 billion Korean won on its nuclear program in 2020. 734 billion North Korean won is $642 million, which is our estimate for 2021 North Korean nuclear spending,” the report said.
The report comes amid suspicions that Pyongyang may soon conduct a nuclear test.
South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin said this week that the North appears to have completed all preparations for what would be its seventh nuclear test.
North Korea conducted its sixth nuclear test in September 2017.
The annual report covers nine countries with known or clandestine nuclear weapons programs. They include the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France, India, Israel and Pakistan.
The U.S. is estimated to have spent the largest amount on nuclear weapons, spending $44.2 billion in 2021, followed by China and Russia with $11.7 billion and $8.6 billion, respectively, according to the report.
(Yonhap)
