Country

The United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, India, China, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea are among the nine countries that are part of the nuclear club, with almost 16,000 nuclear weapons. 

USA Today reported that according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, these countries have almost 15,850 nuclear weapons, and 4,300 of them are used with operational forces. The independent institute that focuses on global security said 1,800 of those nuclear weapons are under high operational alert.

However, the number of nuclear weapons has been decreasing all over the world as Russia and the US are cutting their stockpiles. These two countries house 90 percent of all nuclear weapons in the world. They have agreed on the Treaty on Measures of the Further Reduction and Limitation on Strategic Offensive Arms.

Out of the nine countries, only the US, the UK, Russia, France, and China are legally recognized to have nuclear weapons under the 1968 international Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty.

Meanwhile, the Time reported that North Korea reportedly conducted a successful H-bomb test, confirming former US President George W. Bush's "axis of evil" label on certain countries. In his 2002 Union address, Bush described North Korea, Iran, and Iraq as the "axis of evil," and the rest of US's allies call these nations "rogue nations."

Bush attacked Iraq first, after 4,495 US troops dead and $1 trillion spent, Iraq's nuclear program has been eliminated. Just last year, the US and its allies agreed on a deal to delay Iran's ambitions to create nuclear weapons.

The Telegraph UK wrote that North Korea's hydrogen bomb testing brings the country to the rank of global nuclear powers. If their claim of a successful H-bomb testing is true, then Kim Jong-un just brought his country's nuclear might to the next level.

This is North Korea's fourth nuclear test since a decade ago, but it is the first time that it has used a thermonuclear device for its nuclear weapon. Although there are skeptcs that debunk N.Korea has truly produced the H-bomb, the country proved they are not to be reckoned with.