Nukewatch chart by Kelly Lundeen
| MILITARY & NUCLEAR CAPABILITY | NORTH KOREA | UNITED STATES |
| Active duty military personnel [1] | 700,000 | 1.4 million |
| Military personnel near other state | 0 [2] | 28,500 in S. Korea; 50,000 in Japan |
| Military budget | $7.5 billion[3] | $587.8 billion[3] -to- $850 billion [4] |
| Number of nuclear warheads | 0 confirmed, maybe 10 [5] | 4,000 to 4,480 [6] |
| Nuclear weapon delivery systems [7] | 0 | 450 missiles, 165 heavy bombers, [8] 12 Trident subs (1,900 total) |
| Number of annual military trainings carried out along the other’s borders | 0 [14] | 2 (South Korea) |
| Range of usable missiles | < 2,800 miles [9] | 8,000 miles [10] |
| Verbal threats of nuclear strike? | Lots | Lots |
| Pledge of “no first use” of nuclear weapons | Yes [11] (May 7, 2016) | No |
| Number of ballistic missile tests in 2017 | 9 [12] | 6 [10, 12] |
| Number of ICBM tests in 2017 [13] | 0 | 6 [10, 12] |
| Previous nuclear weapons attacks | 0 | 2 |
| Current shooting wars initiated | 0 | 7: Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Libya |
| Civilians killed in conflicts since 2015 | 0 [15] | 3,800-5,800 [16, 17] |
Notes
[1] Global Fire Power.com, 2016 [2] For a relative comparison, consider North Korean troops in Mexico or Cuba [3] Global Fire Power.com, 2017 [4] War Resisters League, “Where your income tax money really goes,” March 2017 [5] Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, June 1, 2016 [6] Fed. Of Am. Scientists, “Status of World Nuclear Forces,” Apr. 4, 2017; and Bulletin of Atomic the Scientists, Dec. 14, 2016 [7] A delivery system is needed to get a warhead to its target. [8] USAirForce.com [9] The Atlantic, May 14, 2017 [10] Christian Science Monitor, May 9, 2017 [11] CNN, May 8, 2016; VOAnews.com, May 7, 2017 [12] ABC News, May 30, 2017 [13] An ICBM would be capable of reaching the other country’s territory. [14] For a relative comparison, in Canada or Mexico [15] Also, zero combatants were killed. [16] Bureau of Investigative Journalism, May 31, 2017 (This includes coalition forces.) [17] Airwars.com, Jan. 19, 2017.
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