Since its origin in 1948, North Korea has been isolated and heavily armed, with hostile relations with South Korea and Western countries. It has developed a capability to produce short- and medium-range missiles, chemical weapons, and possibly biological and nuclear weapons. In December 2002, Pyongyang lifted the freeze on its plutonium-based nuclear weapons program and expelled IAEA inspectors who had been monitoring the freeze under the Agreed Framework of October 1994. As the Bush administration was arguing its case at the United Nations for disarming Iraq, the world has been hit with alarming news of a more menacing threat: North Korea has an advanced nuclear weapons program that, U.S. officials believe, has already produced one or …show more content…
There is no reason, however, to believe that this allegation is true. North Korea established a nuclear energy research complex at Yongbyon in 1964 and set up a Soviet research reactor at the site in 1965. North Korea subsequently expanded the complex and built a number of new facilities, including a large plutonium reprocessing plant (Radiochemistry Laboratory). North Korea signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in 1985 but did not submit to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections until May 1992. Discrepancies between North Korean declarations and IAEA inspection findings indicate that North Korea might have reprocessed enough plutonium for one or two nuclear weapons. According to a December 2001 National Intelligence Council report, the U.S. intelligence community ascertained in the mid-1990s that North Korea had produced one, possibly two, nuclear weapons. In mid-2002, U.S. intelligence discovered that North Korea had been receiving materials from Pakistan for a highly enriched uranium production facility. In October 2002, the U.S. State Department informed North Korea that the U.S. was aware of this program, which is a violation of Pyongyang’s nonproliferation commitments. North Korean officials initially denied the existence of such a program, but then acknowledged its existence. On 10 January 2003, North Korea declared its withdrawal from the NPT.
Kim Jongun, has mentioned before that he wants the world to look up to his strong country as a nuclear power, rather than just a mere country with multiple sanctions shouting big words. This in the past has led to various consequences from hegemonies all around the world who feel threatened by the implications of a young tyrant in charge of ICBMs. This is a clear example of the security dilemma in which the entire world, the anarchy that it is, has to control minor nations that strive for hegemony at the expense of the larger nations’ security and loss of leverage. Unfortunately, it seems that despite the clear warnings from the superior nations, the North Korean dictator has no interest in abiding by international rules and is far more fascinated with realist ideologies of projections of power.
North Korea, formally known as the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a relic of the Cold War and the world’s last remaining totalitarian Stalinist dictatorship. Arguably the most secretive state in the world, North Korea poses a unique set of challenges to the world, especially to its democratic and capitalist neighbor, South Korea, formally known as the Republic of Korea (ROK). As one of the last remnants of the Cold War era, North Korea remains an anomaly of the international system due to its unpredictable nature and disregard for international norms. With the recent bombardment of the South Korean Island of Yeongpyong and the sinking of the warship Cheonan, tensions between the two Koreas are at the lowest point since
The U.S. helped to divide the Korean peninsula at the end of World War II, and then waged war against North Korea in the 1950s. Although the U.S. signed a peace agreement rather than a peace treaty with North Korea after the war, its policy toward the country changed. Instead of trying to overthrow the North Korea government, the U.S. government adopted a policy of containing communism. During the 1980’s, associations between North Korea and the U.S. start to take on a new diplomatic form. North Korea’s nuclear weapons program had become a pressing international issue
Since the 1950’s North Korea has posed as dangerous threat to The United States and its allies. With North Korea development of Nuclear arms and its consistent hostile rhetoric and actions towards the United States. With the North Korea’s development of a long range ICBM, more now than ever the United States has been put into a position where its and many of its
In the article “Should the United take more aggressive action to prevent North Korea from building a nuclear arsenal?”, it explains how the power of possessing lethal weapons can affect international affairs, and this is a concern that U.S. wants to prevent a war. The article describes how this became an issue after the Korean War; U.S. tried to prevent communism to spread, so in order to do it, the Peninsula of Korea was divided in the 38th parallel, making North Korea communism and South Korea democrat supported by the U.S. Furthermore, the article argued about the nuclear arsenal that North Korea possess since the early 2000’s and U.S. tried to stop them to develop such weapon. In order to make them stop, U.S. and many other countries tries
After World War II, tensions reached a new high in the United States. The American people experienced Cold War fears, which changed the way they lived, and acted politically. The U.S. was at ends with the Soviet Union, and this tension manifested itself into the population through the fear of nuclear missiles, and communism, and thanks to President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and his administration, many of these fears were resolved, or at least minimized.
There is no disbelief that the United States has had historical conflicts with North Korea’s dictatorial leaders. Currently there have been passing threats from North Korea’s dictatorial leader Kim Jung Un to US president Donald Trump. Using current international approaches to the North Korean nuclear problem-solutions are based on the logic of crime and punishment. “According to this approach, North Korea’s crimes – possession of nuclear weapons and violation of UN resolutions – must be punished through forceful, comprehensive sanctions. Such sanctions, the thinking goes, will cause so much discomfort in the North that the regime will be at risk of collapse and Kim Jung Un will be compelled to choose denuclearization (Moon, 2016, pg. 343).” Policy makers ideally want to ensure that foreign policy is perfected to the best of their knowledge and that national security is performing to the best of their ability. “America’s main motive has always been denuclearization in line with its nonproliferation policy, especially after post 9/11 security concerns (Petrželová, 2017, pg. 10).” To avoid similar events to 9/11 posed by North Korea, policy makers should allow counterterrorism tactics to be executed as thoroughly as possible. The protection and safety of US citizens should always be a top priority for government agencies and policy makers. Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s
In “Does North Korea Have the H-Bomb?,” Patricia Smith informs the readers about North Korea’s latest nuclear test and the country’s history. Kim Jong Un alarmed the world when he revealed that his nation had detonated a hydrogen bomb which would signify an increased risk. While the test may not have been a hydrogen bomb, it signified the threat North Korea poses to the world and proof that the country is working on advancing its weapons. The conflict between the United States and North Korea began when the Soviet Union established a communist regime in North Korea and the U.S. controlled the South. While South Korea developed into a democratic and high-tech country, North Korea developed into a communist country and a repressive regime. Furthermore,
A country shrouded in shadows, North Korea, is ruled by the reprehensible dictator known as Kim Jong-Un. Known for their antisocial and hostile aura towards other countries; this has led to the extensive secrecy of the country, primarily in the field of nuclear development. It was said in late January, North Korea had performed its fourth nuclear test of a so claimed hydrogen bomb (H-bomb). A hydrogen bomb relies on nuclear fusion, the exact same chemical reaction that drives the Sun, making it more powerful than atomic weapons (TheWeek). The dangers of a country, particularly North Korea, having a H-bomb at their disposal could lead to great harm for the rest of the world. Even with that said, the United States does not need to overly
The North Korean government continues to financially fund the research and testing of nuclear and ballistic missiles. Little information is known about the North Korean nuclear program and has been made available to foreign nations due to the secrecy and isolation of international affairs. The threat of a nuclear strike from North Korea has become an increasingly serious matter for many nations including the U.S. and its Asian allies, Japan and South Korea. Currently, there are only nine nations known by intelligent analysis that possesses the resources to manufacture nuclear weapons which do include the U.S. However, North Korea is the only nation in the 21st century to conduct a nuclear missile test that has been reported by North Korean
From the 1700 's to the 1900 's, humankind has gained much knowledge of nuclear energy, all of which started from mere curiosity to understanding the electrons, protons and neutrons. The knowledge gained over the span of 200 years was so vast that the humankind has evolved usage of nuclear energy from being beneficial to the humankind to becoming weapons of mass destruction. It has left the world leaders bewildered as to whether these advancements in development of nuclear weapons is for welfare of the country or it is to serve purposes that are far more dangerous than can be encompassed. But the enrichment of nuclear weapons each year by countries has definitely spurred the scientific community and these actions have been under scrutiny by the world leaders. In the present day world, out of 196 countries that exist on this planet, two countries have arisen to be the biggest threats all owing to nuclear weapons. North Korea and Iran joined this race of exponential development of nuclear weapons and have posed threats of all sorts to rest of the world with their constant development of nuclear weapons. In this race, the North Korea has definitely left Iran behind. Therefore, threat of nuclear war with North Korea is greater than with Iran. These countries have used their capability of nuclear weapons development to intimidate their foes
Historically the strategy of Nuclear Deterrence appears to have been an effective one. There have been no major conflicts involving the global super powers since World War Two. As Ward Wilson states ‘it has often been asserted as fact that nuclear deterrence works, that it kept us safe for fifty years during the Cold War, and that because of the peculiar characteristics of mutual assured destruction, it provides unique stability in a crisis.”
North Korea has been developing nuclear weapons and long range technology since the early 1980’s. North Korea has an unpredictable and erratic new leader, Kim Jung-un, the third since the communist takeover of the Northern part of the Korean peninsula. The most likely outcome to the question is that the Korean peninsula cannot become a nuclear free zone in the next five-years. There are some options to attempt to combat and control the situation in North Korea. Including:
This article deals with the United States and its attempts to deal with the dangerous matters of North Korea. Some of the problems that were brought up in this article were North Korea’s plan to restart a plutonium based nuclear program at Yongbyon, North Korea’s plan to build a new highly enriched uranium (HEU) nuclear program, and the tension that emerged between the United States and South Korea. Even though many problems were occurring, there were some positive things that were happening at the time. The United States began negotiating with North Korea and South Korea about establishing railroad links, demining portions of the demilitarized zone, allowing athletes to compete in the Asian games, and allowing abductees to visit Japan.
Since they were first introduced during World War 2, nuclear weapons have been the strongest and most destructive weapons ever created and they continue to get more powerful. The first time the world saw these weapons in action were during the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The bombs that were dropped on those two cities had the combined power of 36 kilotons of TNT (Starr 1). This pales in comparison to the largest nuclear weapon which was created just 16 years after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Tsar Bomba, which had the power of over 50 megatons of TNT (Tarantola 1). The resulting explosion of the Tsar Bomba was the biggest man made explosion in history. This kind of destructive power should be banned globally because even though supporters of nuclear weapons feel that they are necessary, I disagree, they are too dangerous, are tools of fear and are too cost inefficient to continue to be in use.