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North Korea

Experts guess that North Korea has less than ten nuclear weapons, a tiny amount compared to nations like China, the US or Russia. But the Hermit Kingdom’s unpredictable and belligerent behavior, located on one of the world’s last remaining Cold War fault lines, make it an outsized threat. Following is analysis and opinion from Ploughshares Fund staff, grantees and guests on the ongoing struggle to deal with nuclear weapons in North Korea.
Chemical Weapons, Syria and the International Response to WMDs
The debate over Syria’s possible use of chemical weapons has been dominating the headlines. Were deadly nerve agents used? If so by whom? Was the use intentional? These questions are important since President Obama has intimated that, if confirmed, the use of chemical weapons could change U.S. policy toward the Syrian civil war. The specifics of what the United States would do differently are unclear. What is clear, though, is that the use of chemical weapons characteristically changes the way we perceive the conflict. It is, as Obama stated, a “game changer.” Read more »
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Posted by Paul Carroll on May 10, 2013
North Korea, chemical weapons, Syria, Pakistan, United States
Senator Blocking Cabinet Nominee Over Funds for Failing Plutonium Plant
  On the radar: Carolina pork holder; Gen. Kehler on Minot; Perspective on no first use; Nominations; New START by 2017; B-61 undermining/underpinning triad; and North Korean traffic cop gets state’s highest award.   Read more »
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Posted on May 10, 2013
Nobody Benefits from a Nuclear-Armed South Korea
Last week’s announcement that the U.S.-South Korea nuclear cooperation agreement would be extended for two additional years dashes the hopes of those South Korean hawks who seek to make their country a nuclear weapons state, at least for the time being. Indeed, the prospect of a nuclear-armed South Korea was so alarming to some that The New York Times ten days earlier published an editorial that came out against a nuclear cooperation agreement that would allow South Korea to enrich uranium and reprocess U.S.-sourced fuel rods to separate plutonium. For many readers, this might have caused a double take when North Korea has been leading the headlines as the region’s nuclear problem. What’s going on? Read more »
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Posted by Philip Yun on April 29, 2013
North Korea, South Korea, the New York Times, United States
Ploughshares Fund Engages on North Korea
As tensions have risen in the face of North Korea’s heated rhetoric, the U.S. media has been running non-stop, and often inflammatory, coverage of every new development. Unfortunately, much of the coverage has been neither useful nor informative and cuts against the opinion of many North Korea experts by touting the DPRK as a direct threat to the United States. Most experts aren’t concerned with the prospect of a preemptive military strike from North Korea. We’ve seen this pattern of provocation before. Instead, experts worry that the situation could spiral out of control, spurring a real crisis on the Korean peninsula. Read more »
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Posted by Rebecca Remy on April 17, 2013
North Korea, Brookings Institution, Center for American Progress, Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, International relations, Joe Cirincione, Joel Wit, Nuclear proliferation, Philip Yun, Union of Concerned Scientists, Video
Examining the North Korean Crisis
Since its most recent nuclear test on February 12, 2013, there has been a lot of attention to and activity around North Korea. The test – it’s third and most “successful” to date – elicited a predictable response in the passage of additional U.N. Security Council sanctions the. But the fact that the sanctions passed unanimously – with China’s consent – is significant, although it is still unclear if this marks a shift in Chinese policy toward North Korea. In short, the North’s latest behavior seems to have raised the game with respect to the stability and security in Northeast Asia. Read more »
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Posted by admin on April 2, 2013
China, North Korea, Joe Cirincione, Joel Rubin, Joel Wit, Paul Carroll, South Korea, U.N. Security Council, Video, United States
Alaskan Folly
We've doubled down on a defense that doesn't work against missiles that don't exist. Read more »
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Posted by Joe Cirincione on March 21, 2013
North Korea, Alaska, Foreign Policy, Fort Greely, ground-based interceptor, Joe Cirincione, Missile Defense, Missile Defense Agency, Nuclear Weapons, Secretary Hagel
Time to Break the North Korean Cycle
It will be days or weeks before the world knows much about the nuclear test conducted by North Korea mid-day Tuesday local time in Pyongyang. What was its actual yield? What did it use – plutonium or highly enriched uranium, or some combination? Did it perform as expected? What will the international response be? Is this a game changer? Read more »
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Posted by Paul Carroll on February 12, 2013
China, North Korea, Pyongyang, Seoul, United States
Syria’s Chemical Weapons – Foreshadowing a Nuclear Scenario?
With the real possibility of Syria’s use of chemical weapons and the security of their stockpiles in question, the comparison to a nuclear scenario is not hard to imagine. Read more »
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Posted by Jessica Sleight on December 18, 2012
South Asia, North Korea, chemical weapons, Nuclear Weapons, Nuclear Zero, Syria
North Korea’s Rocket Launch: Who’s Up, Who’s Down?
As the United Nations Security Council considers a response to the North Korean missile launch, I’d like to offer my view on the immediate “winners and losers” from this episode. Read more »
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Posted by Paul Carroll on December 12, 2012
North Korea, Iran
Seeing Eye to Eye with China
I just returned from a week in Beijing. What a change. Scores of modern skyscrapers with international brand names and products emblazoned atop have sprung up where none existed as little as five years ago. Shining shopping malls are filled with the latest fashions and products.  Streets are choked with thousands of cars and buses where packs of bicycles and motorcycles once ruled. Read more »
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Posted by Philip Yun on November 14, 2012
China, North Korea, Asia, Beijing, Foreign Policy, Nuclear Weapons, Philip Yun, Sino-American relations, Ploughshares Fund