The U.N. just passed a new set of more severe sanctions against North Korea in response to its recent underground nuclear test. The sanctions include " mandatory inspections of cargo leaving and entering North Korea by land, sea or air; a ban on all sales or transfers of small arms and light weapons to the North; and the expulsion of North Korean diplomats who engage in any illicit activities." Following the U.N. sanctions announcement, N.K. shot a few short range missiles into the sea.
There have been sanctions against N.K. since the ceasefire that effectively ended the Korean War back in the mid-fifties. There never was an official treaty or agreement to end the Korean War. A state of hostility has continued between North Korea and South Korea since the Korean War. The people of N.K. have been fed a steady diet of propaganda and publicly declare solidarity with the regime of Kim Jong Un and claim that they can survive in spite of the sanctions.
It has been widely reported in the international press that the Premier of North Korea, Kim Jong Un, has just ordered his military to have their nuclear weapons ready for immediate use. This announcement was obviously prompted partly by the new sanctions imposed by the U.N.
A dispatch from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said "The only way for defending the sovereignty of our nation and its right to existence under the present extreme situation is to bolster up nuclear force both in quality and quantity." The dispatch reported that Kim stressed "the need to get the nuclear warheads deployed for national defense always on standby so as to be fired any moment."
Kim has often claimed that the U.S. and South Korea intend to invade N.K. and destroy his regime. He has threatened to invade S.K. and/or deploy nuclear weapons against S.K. He has also threatened to send nuclear missiles to the U.S. N.K. does have a huge army and at least a few nuclear warheads. There is a great deal of analysis and speculation about the actual nuclear arsenal and delivery systems that N.K. possesses. N.K. could get their nuclear warheads to S.K, by truck if their short ranges missiles can't do the job. It is possible that they could send missiles carrying nuclear warheads to attack Japan which has also been a target of their hostility and propaganda. However, most analysts doubt that N.K. has the capability to miniaturize nuclear warheads and send them all the way to the U.S. mainland.
The U.S. and South Korea are scheduled to hold a massive joint military exercise in the near future. N.K. claims that this is actually a cover for an invasion of N.K. This is probably also part of the reason that N.K. issued the dispatch about getting all of its nuclear missiles ready. Sort of the equivalent of a angry dog making its hair stand up so it will look bigger and bearing its fangs to make it look more dangerous. Kim Jong Un may be a psychopathic dictator but I don't think that he is suicidal. Any detonation of an N.K. nuclear warhead in a neighboring country would be suicidal for N.K. and, no matter how much they bluster and threaten, I don't think they will pull the trigger.
Range of various North Korean missiles:
