Bloomberg: North Korea's nuclear weapons are surpassing U.S. military defenses, with Kim Jong-un able to add 20 nuclear warheads each year

North Korea is currently estimated to possess about 50 nuclear warheads, with up to 20 additional units added in production capacity each year. Bloomberg warns that the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, built by the United States at a cost of $65 billion, is only equipped with 44 interceptors, and given the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles North Korea can mobilize, this defensive line may already be on the brink of a critical threshold.
(Background briefing: North Korean hackers set a record in 2025 by stealing $2.02 billion in cryptocurrency, with a money-laundering cycle of about 45 days)
(Additional background: Trump keeps pushing pro-liberal optimism: Iran is clearing mines and has issued a hardline order to “prohibit Israel from bombing Lebanon”)

Table of Contents

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• 44 interceptors versus 48 launchers
• Nuclear facility expansion: the second uranium enrichment plant at Yongbyon
• Russia alliance: exchanging combat data for new income
• Analysts: North Korea no longer easily backs down
• Golden Dome: a $1 trillion response
• Kim Jong-un’s constitutional guarantee

During his first term, Trump once claimed that the United States had ended the nuclear threat from North Korea (at the time, in 2018 and 2019, he met with Kim Jong-un multiple times). But according to Bloomberg’s latest report, seven years later, Kim Jong-un’s nuclear weapons production capability has tripled—rising from fissile material equivalent to about 6 bombs per year to 12 to 20 bombs per year—while the U.S. defense system has essentially remained stuck in place.

44 interceptors versus 48 launchers

Bloomberg reports that the U.S. Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system is currently the only weapon system capable of intercepting ICBMs from North Korea or Iran. This system costs $65 billion and has 44 interceptors deployed in Alaska and California.

But the problem is: analysts estimate that North Korea currently has 24 to 48 missile launchers, some of which have already been publicly displayed during parades.

In other words, if North Korea were to launch 24 intercontinental ballistic missiles at the same time, the GMD’s interceptors would run out. North Korea’s deployed Hwasong-15, -17, -18, and -19 ICBMs theoretically have the firepower to break through this defensive line.

Nuclear facility expansion: the second uranium enrichment plant at Yongbyon

And North Korea’s nuclear materials production base at Yongbyon is continuing to expand. Satellite imagery and intelligence analysis show that external construction work on the second uranium enrichment plant was completed in March 2026.

In 2025, Kim Jong-un himself publicly released internal photos of the Yongbyon uranium enrichment plant, in which densely arranged centrifuge equipment can be seen. This has been interpreted by outside observers as a deliberate political signal meant to showcase nuclear weapons production strength.

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung stated in public that North Korea can already produce enough fissile material each year to make 20 nuclear warheads, confirming estimates by external analytical organizations. Bloomberg reports that if North Korea maintains this production pace, by 2035 its total number of nuclear warheads would reach about 90—approaching Israel’s current scale.

Russia alliance: exchanging combat data for new income

Bloomberg also specifically points out the strategic multiplier effect brought by the military alliance between North Korea and Russia signed in 2024. Under this agreement, North Korea supplies Russia with ammunition and short-range ballistic missiles to support the battlefield in Ukraine; in return, North Korea gains new foreign-exchange income and receives a rare opportunity to test missile performance in real combat environments.

Analysis holds that North Korea’s short-range ballistic missiles have accumulated a large amount of real combat data on the Ukraine battlefield, which has immeasurable military value for a nuclear-armed country that has been isolated from the international community for a long time and lacks combat experience.

Analysts: North Korea no longer easily backs down

In the report, Bloomberg cites observations by Ankit Panda, a nuclear policy scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace:

“They have built up more experience in managing nuclear forces and are more confident in their weapon systems… North Korea, as a nuclear adversary, is no longer as easy to deter as it was a few years ago.”

Chun Yungwoo, South Korea’s former chief nuclear negotiator, meanwhile analyzed from a geopolitical perspective: “The fates of Iran and Venezuela will reinforce Kim Jong-un’s belief that his decision to expand nuclear capabilities is wise and far-sighted.” The subtext of this statement is: regimes that give up nuclear weapons are often faced with regime collapse, while nuclear-armed regimes have, so far, remained standing.

Former U.S. Department of State envoy Joel Wit also poured cold water on the prospects for negotiations: “To think that the U.S. and South Korea can continue negotiations from where they left off in mid-2019 is a mistake. Today’s North Korea is completely different from then.”