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Nuclear Weapons : India, Pakistan, And Democratic People 's Republic Of Korea Essay

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The United States of America was the first country in the world to develop and test nuclear weapons. The Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed on 6 August 1945 and 9 August 1945. This was the first instance where nuclear weapons were used as warfare. U.S was the sole possessor of nuclear weapons up until August 29, 1949, when the Soviet Union tested their first nuclear weapon. This was followed by the UK in 1952, France in 1960 and China in 1964. During the 1960s these five states negotiated and became parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty(NPT), and were the only states meeting the Treaty’s definition of a “Nuclear-Weapon State”(NWS). This treaty was opened for signature on 1 July 1968 and entered into force on 5 March 1970. Since then, four Non-Nuclear Proliferation Treaty (NNPT) States are known to possess nuclear weapons: India, Pakistan, Israel and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute as of January 2013, India has approximately 90-110 warheads in total Inventory. Following the nuclear explosive test conducted by China in 1964 then Indian Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri authorized limited movement towards a nuclear weapons program. India conducted its first test in 1974. A plutonium fission device was exploded and described as “peaceful nuclear explosion experiment”. The nuclear Energy Commission of India stated that India had no intention of producing nuclear weapons. By

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