More than two million people would die if North Korea launched a nuclear attack

2.1 million people would be killed and 7.7 million injured if North Korea launched a nuclear attack on South Korea and Japan.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visits a nuclear weapons manufacturing facility. Photo: Reuters.

A North Korean nuclear attack on Seoul, South Korea, and Tokyo, Japan, could kill 2.1 million people and injure 7.7 million, the US-based 38 North website, which monitors North Korea's nuclear and missile issues, said on October 5.

The casualty estimate is based on the assumption that North Korea would use all 25 nuclear weapons in the attack. North Korea’s large nuclear warheads have an explosive yield of about 15 to 25 kilotons, equivalent to the two bombs that devastated the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

Computer modeling and database consultant Michael Zagurek Jr. estimates the death toll could increase significantly if North Korea used a bomb similar to the one tested on September 3, with an explosive yield of 108 to 205 kilotons.

Although the possibility of North Korea directly attacking Japan and South Korea is very low, expert Zagurek said it is not impossible.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been rising as Pyongyang has stepped up missile and nuclear tests, while US President Donald Trump has threatened military action against North Korea.

According to VNE