Delegates to the UN from 188 nations are currently in the process of reviewing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Under the terms of the treaty – signed in 1968 – nations with nuclear weapons must take steps to reduce the size of their arsenals, while nations without nuclear weapons agreed to renounce them altogether. Unfortunately the treaty was designed to fit a Soviet-US Cold War scenario, and does not adequately deal with the current challenges facing the international community. Thus far attempts to eliminate loopholes and strengthen the outdated agreement have been stifled by bickering and disagreement.
Amid the negotiations, fresh concerns have arisen over North Korea’s nuclear program. On Friday, a US defense official said satellite surveillance images indicate that North Korea might be preparing for an underground nuclear weapons test. For several years North Korea has claimed to possess nuclear weapons, but it has never conducted a test. Such a demonstration would eliminate any doubts about North Korea’s capabilities and dramatically alter the dynamics of peace negotiations between the isolated nation and its anxious neighbors.
The US hopes pressure from the international community will motivate North Korea to refrain from the test, return to six-party talks, and eventually abandon its nuclear program. The US government says it wants a complete, verifiable and irrevocable dismantling of North Korea's nuclear program. Previous attempts to reach an agreement have been unsuccessful and the six-party talks that included North and South Korea, China, Japan, Russia, and the United States have been stalled for nearly a year. The standoff began in October 2002 when North Korea acknowledged to the US it was developing nuclear weapons. A few months later, in January of 2003, North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Experts suspect that North Korea currently possesses at least eight nuclear weapons. Intelligence officials have also concluded that a North Korean uranium-enrichment program, expected to be operational by 2007, will produce enough material to build as many as six additional weapons a year. North Korea already possesses stockpiles of chemical weapons and ballistic missiles. Furthermore, it is currently developing at least two new ballistic missile systems. The first is a land-based road-mobile medium-range ballistic missile with an estimated range of up to 4,000 kilometers. The second is a submarine or ship-mounted ballistic missile system with a range of at least 2,500 kilometers. The new land and sea-based ballistic missiles could carry nuclear warheads and may have sufficient range to hit the United States.
North Korea's economy is weak, the government is strapped for cash, and its people are in desperate need of provisions. Humanitarian organizations estimate that in the last decade more than a million people have died in North Korea from starvation. There is ongoing concern that North Korea could attempt to sell or trade nuclear weapons, supplies, and technology in order to meet its needs. North Korea is already a major supplier of ballistic missile–related equipment, components, materials, and technical expertise to the Middle East, South Asia, and North Africa. The sale of ballistic missile technology has provided North Korea with a major source of hard currency, giving it the ability to maintain its weapons program. Many fear that if the situation continues to deteriorate a North Korean nuclear weapon could end up in the hands of terrorists.
