What Happens If North Korea Conducts Another Nuclear Weapons Test?

That's a question that should not have to be answered, yet given the unpredictability of North Korea the government of Kim-Jong un maybe willing to cross that line in an effort to preserve the Kim's family hold on power.  China North Korea's only remaining allie would be placed  in a rather untenable position continued support or withdrawal support and allow the government to collapse something that China is unwilling to accept as it would mean thousands of refugees crossing into China a circumstance the Chinese consider unacceptable.  But, here we are facing an outcome that benefits no one in North East Asia.


 

North Korea's Next Nuclear Test Could Serve as a Regional Tipping Point

South Korean President Park Geun-hye warned this week that if North Korea conducts another nuclear test, it could prompt the volatile country's neighbors to seek their own nuclear defense. "North Korea would effectively be crossing the Rubicon," she told the Wall Street Journal. 

North Korea's last nuclear test, which took place in 2013, prompted increased Western sanctions against the country and escalating tensions between Pyongyang and its rivals. At the height of the tensions, North Korea temporarily shuttered an industrial complex that it operates jointly with South Korea, harming its own economy in the process, and offered repeated invectives against Seoul and Washington. Now, however, Western officials fear that the next round of tests could prove more threatening to the North's neighbors. 

Back in March, North Korea threatened to carry out a "new form" of nuclear testing. The country's foreign ministry didn't offer more specifics, but some in the west suspect this means they will test out small nuclear devices that could be carried by intercontinental ballistic missiles. According to the WSJ, some experts fear that another test — the nation's fourth ever — would enable North Korea to successfully develop such weapons. Most experts believe they have working nuclear weapons, but still lack the capacity to deliver them via rocket.

Remember since 1994 the United States along with Russia, Japan, and South Korea have attempted to negotiate an end to North Korea's nuclear weapons program yet each time an agreement has been reached the North has reniged and returned to nuclear weapons development.