North Korea Disbursed IDR 9.4 Trillion For Nuclear Programs Last Year, But Still The Smallest Compared To Global Powers

North Korean ballistic missile illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Stefan Krasowski)

JAKARTA - North Korea is estimated to have spent as much as 642 million US dollars, or about IDR 9.465.134.400.000, on its nuclear program last year, according to anti-nuclear activists.

The report comes as the country appears to be preparing to test a new weapon, despite battling the COVID-19 outbreak and the economic crisis.

There is no confirmed data on North Korea's nuclear spending, or the size of its arsenal. Since 2006 it has conducted at least six nuclear tests, and appears to be preparing to resume testing for the first time since 2017.

In a report on global nuclear weapons spending released on Tuesday, the Geneva-based International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) said its estimates were based on the assumption that North Korea continues to spend about a third of its gross national income (GNI) on the military.

Of this amount, about 6 percent of them are used for nuclear weapons, the ICAN report said, citing Reuters, June 15.

The estimate puts North Korea as the lowest spender of the nine nuclear-armed nations covered by the ICAN report, spending about half that of the next lowest spender, Pakistan.

The United States, which has led an international campaign to impose sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile development, has criticized Pyongyang for spending millions of dollars on its military while the country faces food shortages and other economic problems.

Meanwhile, North Korea says it has the sovereign right to develop nuclear weapons for self-defense, and those weapons are needed to protect its country from international threats.

It is unclear whether Pyongyang reduced funding for its nuclear program during the COVID-19 pandemic.

But analysts, foreign officials and independent experts monitoring UN sanctions have reported that Pyongyang appears to have moved ahead with its stated goal of developing and expanding its arsenal, with new activity and construction being observed at its main nuclear reactor, uranium mine and other related sites.

Earlier, in an annual report released this week, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) estimated North Korea had amassed up to 20 warheads, and may have enough fissile material for about 45–55 nuclear devices.

"North Korea's military nuclear program remains central to its national security strategy," SIPRI said.

As for South Korea's most recent Defense White Paper, North Korea has about 50 kilograms of weapons-grade plutonium and large amounts of enriched uranium, estimates that have remained unchanged since 2016.