North Korea
North Korea had been interested in nuclear weapons since WWII and has since gained the capability of the nuclear fuel cycle, as well as having plutonium and enriched uranium programs that are capable of producing nuclear fissionable material. In February 2005, North Korea declared, for the first time, that they possessed nuclear weapons and they wouldn’t be involved in the six party talks anymore. The six party talks were started in 2003 with the goal of removing nuclear weapons from the Korean peninsula and were held among North Korea, South Korea, Japan, China, Russia, and the United States. In October 2006, North Korea made it clear that they had nuclear weapons by claiming it had exploded a nuclear warhead and the claim was proved true when experts examined it. North Korea also agreed to reenter the six party talks in the same month and the talks continued in December. The first of three nuclear tests also occurred in 2006, with the second in 2009 and the most recent in 2013. They were testing short and medium range ballistic missiles. North Korea agreed to shut down all nuclear and missile tests in exchange for food from the US in late February 2012 after Kim Jong II’s death. When the US and North Korea had an argument over a rocket that North Korea launched in April, North Korea decided that the agreement was void. After that was the nuclear test in 2013, which led to the restart of all nuclear facilities in Yongbyon. On May 2, 2014, North Korea is expanding the main rocket launching site and testing its first road mobile intercontinental ballistic missile; this was discovered using imagery from a commercial satellite. A fourth nuclear test was threatened to occur in November 2014 when the UN refers North Korea to the International Criminal Court for human rights abuses. In March 2015, the North Korean foreign minister said that his country was ready to unleash a defensive strike on the US because they think there is an increasing military threat from Washington. Though US General Vincent Brooks has said, “North Korea’s increased militarization, including the growth range and precision of its missile program does not represent a physical threat to the US” (Cable News Network).
Most of the issues concerning North Korea have been dealt with by the United States or the United Nations. Though North Korea has yet to launch any nuclear weapons that harmed another country, there is no other way to ensure that they can’t, except getting rid of their nuclear weapons. North Korea would never allow that to happen if other countries were still allowed to keep their nuclear weapons, so all nuclear weapons must be removed.
Most of the issues concerning North Korea have been dealt with by the United States or the United Nations. Though North Korea has yet to launch any nuclear weapons that harmed another country, there is no other way to ensure that they can’t, except getting rid of their nuclear weapons. North Korea would never allow that to happen if other countries were still allowed to keep their nuclear weapons, so all nuclear weapons must be removed.