Politics International Security Why did North Korea aquire Nuclear Weapns - Essay Example

From the start, a state that would become a nuclear-armed state would begin with a nuclear-energy program. Then on and on, after acquiring the capability and material to produce energy, that state would proceed, secretly or clandestinely, to produce other materials to produce nuclear weapons. A question maybe asked here: is there a precise reason why states want to acquire nuclear weapons Or is it the ambition of non-nuclear power states to acquire nuclear weapons or become nuclear-powered states Erich Marquardt (2003) in his Asia Times on-line article - Why states want nuclear weapons - has this intriguing thesis: When a state acquires nuclear weapons, the cost of invading that state increases, making it more difficult and expensive for the invader to gain a military edge.

There are a number of examples to connect with this statement. . Since Iraq did not yet have nuclear weapons in 1981, Israel was able to launch a successful military strike on the Iraqi nuclear reactor without the fear of a powerful retaliation. (Marquardt, 2003)Iraq then hastened to develop nuclear weapons to increase its leverage with their rivals Iran and Israel. Acquiring nuclear weapons would make it much more difficult for rival states to threaten or attack Iraq. This could be the reason why, according to Marquardt, the Ba'ath Party leadership was unwilling to allow United Nations weapons inspectors complete access to every part of Iraq.

The ambiguity surrounding its weapons program could have theoretically increased Baghdad's foreign-policy negotiating power. (Marquardt, 2007)In the same manner, Marquardt relates, North Korea is sending confusing signals regarding its nuclear program to the U.S. or the outside world regarding its nuclear program, the purpose of which is "likely to create the perception that North Korea is possibly a nuclear-armed state" because US President George Bush is opt for a "regime change" in Pyongyang.

As long as powerful rival states, such as the United States and Japan, are unclear about North Korea's nuclear program, they will have to be careful before deciding to take military action against that country (Marquardt, 2007). In this case Bush and his military would have second thoughts of attacking North Korea. Siegfried S. Hecker, researcher at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University says that the October 9, 2006 nuclear test and the subsequent DPRK's Feb.

10, 2005 announcement of having manufactured nuclear weapons, make it much more difficult to convince the DPRK to give up its nuclear weapons. Nuclear-armed states work to