How Serious a Threat to World Peace Does North Korea Pose - Term Paper Example

Introduction It is highly claimed that North Korea is in procession of weapons of mass destruction. Further, there is an assertion from the CIA that North Korea does not only have nuclear weapons but also substantially has an armoury of chemical weapons. This nation withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in the year 2003 of which it had signed in as a member. North Korea during its withdrawal stated that the United States had not honoured its end of the bargain in the framework that had been greed upon. In the 1994 agreement, the states had agreed to assist North Korea in using nuclear reactors in supplying some of the energy needs and also to begin regulating the relations, William J., David E. Sanger, (2004). The map below shows the Korean Peninsula. Source Greimel, H. (2006): The debate over North Korea and Nuclear Weapons Korea has over the years been divided into North Koreas and South Korea. This dates way back to the year 1949 when Korea defeated Japan and was set free after the First World War. The following events give a chronology of the nuclear program for North Korea; Plutonium There is a lot of concern raised focusing on the scientific research centre on nuclear weapons at Yongbyon. Here there are two reactors both of which are relatively small power generating stations that are using the Magnox techniques. The smaller one of the two has been operational since 1986 and through its life span; it has produced an estimated 8,000 elements of spent fuel. The larger one with a capacity of 50MWe has been under construction since 1984 and was still not complete by the year 2003.This plant has its bases on the blueprints that are already declassified. These are the Calder Hall reactors that were used to produce plutonium which was used for the nuclear weapons program by the United Kingdom. The material produced by the smaller plant is estimated to be enough to make a new bomb each year, Henderson, Gregory (1986). In the year 1993, North Korea did not allow the inspection of its nuclear sites. Consequently the US in 1994 believed that the country had gathered reprocessed plutonium that was enough to produce around ten bombs. North Korea was there after issued with threats of air strikes by the American military and faced increased diplomatic pressure. As a result, the country agreed to have its plutonium program dismantled on condition that the United States and South Korea would supply the country with fuel oil and reactors of light water till it completed its own reactors. The logic behind this agreement was that North Korea had to import enriched uranium for the reactors since the country did not have its own. This was easy to track hence North Korea would have difficulties in reprocessing the nuclear waste into plutonium. This however did not work out as planned due to political impediments. The US did not honour its promise of supplying energy. Eventually, North Korea resumed to the use of its former reactors. It consequently withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in the year 2003, Concharov, Sergei N; Lewis, John W. and Xue L, (1995). Enriched Uranium When North Korea did away with the plutonium program, it was claimed by intelligent officials from the United States that the country was involved in a program for enriched uranium. The officials insisted that North Korea was being supplied with the relevant information and technology by Abdul Qadeer Khan of Pakistan who in return received missile technology .This claim was confirmed by the president of Pakistan Pervez Musharaf who in the year 2005 acknowledged that Abdul had in deed supplied centrifuges accompanied with their designs to the state. The program was later publicly publicized in the year 2002 when the North Korean officials were questioned by US on matters concerning the program. By publicly declaring its position, North Korea had bleached its promise of freezing its plutonium programs. It had also dishonoured the agreement of freeing the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons by maintaining the facilities for enrichment. In December of the same year, the shipments of fuel oil to North Korea were suspended and this eventually brought the Agreed Framework to a stop a factor that made the North Korea to announce its plans in the reactivation of its inactive program for processing nuclear fuel and its power plant located to the North of Pyongyang. Soon after this, North Korea sent away the UN inspectors and pulled off from the treaty on Non-Proliferation. Chemical and Biological weapons of mass destructions In the year 1987, North Korea signed the convection on biological weapons and the consequent Geneva Protocol in the year 1989.Never the less, the country has never signed the convention on chemical weapons. As a result North Korea is today believed to be in procession of a substantial cache of chemical weapons. There has been a further report that North Korea had acquired the necessary technology for the production of mustard gas as well as tabun back in the early 1950s.Today, the country allegedly has an entire armoury of nerve agents and other varieties of advanced technologies. The country has spent a lot of resources on providing the army in North Korea with equipment for chemical protection. The Intervention of the United States in North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons. The president of the United States George Bush after the terror attract on September 11th 2001 named North Korea as one of the partners of evil. However, the intelligent officials said that they have not yet planned any immediate military action. The United States apparently does not want to primarily have any agreement with the government of North Korea., William J., David E. Sanger, (2004). Following the dishonouring of the1994 Framework which North Korea had signed to, the US is hesitant to jump into another agreement with North Korea. The US has argued that by failing to honour the agreement at that time, North Korea flawed the signed agreement. Signing yet another agreement with the US would appear like the United States was attempting to appease the Pyongyang. The US is even further furious at the allegations that North Korea’s government is sponsoring large-scale counterfeighting, money laundering and drug smuggling. The United State’s intervention in to the North Korean weapon affair is complicated by the situation at the ground; the countries at this region all have differing interests and goals. For instance, while all the parties involved want a North Korea that is free of nuclear weapons, South Korea and Japan are very apprehensive about any possible attacks by the military against North Korea. On the other hand, the governments of South Korea and the Peoples republic of China are worried and concerned over the consequences of the intervention of the US on North Korea’s social and economic states should the situation lead to the collapse of the government of North Korea, Henderson, Gregory (1986). It has been argued that North Korea has been using these weapons as a political tool against the US to make it reinstate the normal relations and bring to an end the economic embargo that has been long standing against North Korea. The US would only involve it self in negotiations with North Korea on issues to do with Nuclear Weapons. The CIA has clearly pointed out however, that North does not have nuclear weapons though it has the necessary material and potential to do so whenever they choose. Threat to world peace The picture below shows a Taepo dong – 1 missile that was fired in the year 1998. Source Gromyko, Andrei A. (1990): The supply of energy in North Korea is known to be in constant deterioration since the early 1990s.The traditional capacity of nuclear power is today insignificant. The moderated plants that are two and light - water if rebuild would make a good electricity source in North Korea where the resources are scarce. The country is hence not a serious threat to world peace, Gromyko, Andrei A. (1990). Nuclear test The government of North Korea on the 9th of October in the year 2006 announced that for the first time, it had been successful in conducting a nuclear test. Consequently, the government of the United States through its geological survey department in collaboration with the seismological authorities in Japan sensed an earthquake in North Korea that had an estimated preliminary magnitude measuring 4.2 on the Richter scale. This confirmed some of the aspects of the nuclear test that North Korea was claiming to have done. In this regard, it has been confirmed that North Korea does not have nuclear weapons and poses no threat al all to world peace. North Korea does not pose a serious threat to world peace after all. It has been reported that the country’s ability to send the nuclear weapons to a theoretical target is limited in a way by its technology in missiles. By the year 2005, the No Dong’s total range was only 1,300 kilometres. This distance can only approximately reach its neighbouring nations like China, Japan, Russia, and South Korea. The missiles cannot get to Europe or even the United states. It has not been clearly established whether or not the missile has the capability of carrying the weapons that North Korea has been able to develop so far. The country has also designed the Taepodong-1, a missile that has a 2,000kilometers range though it has not fully been deployed. So far the only missile that North Korea could use to threaten world peace is the second version of the Taepodong which is still not operational. The CIA has estimated that this version of missile will not be in use for the next 11 years. The Taepodong-2 has the potential to send missiles to almost every country in Southeast Asia, the United States and some parts of Alaska. In March 2007, during an international talk on nuclear North Korea disclosed to delegates that the country was getting ready to close up its main nuclear plant. This agreement was arrived at following a chain of six–party negotiations involving the six countries namely; Japan, China, Russia, the U.S, South Korea, and North Korea, Greimel, H. (2006). From the agreement, the lists of North Korea’s nuclear programs have to be submitted and consequently the nation’s nuclear facility disabled. In return, North Korea will receive fuel aid and continued negotiations with Japan and the United States. However, the procedure has been constantly delayed since April as a result of a disagreement with the US on Banco Delta Asia. On the 14th of July in the year 2007, it was confirmed that the nuclear reactor at Yongbyon North Korea had been shut down. This report was given by the inspectors from the agency on International Atomic Energy. North Korea as a country is said not to have enough resources to even feed its own citizens. The critical of this country argue that North Korea would have to spend too much of its scarce resources and invest it in the designing and development of a third velocity missile. The country is also known to have a low progress in technological advancement .To develop more weapons, the country would have to sink too much of the country’s resources in to this affair. Since 1993, North Korea has been able to carry out two missile tests that are long range. In August of the Year 1998, North Korea opened its Taepo Dong one missile above Japan an act that was protested by the United States and other countries. As a result, countries sensed an alarm for cold war. However, this missile turned out to be an effort to actually send a satellite for North Korea to Orbit. This was a big flop since just after the petite stage three did not succeed, the entire satellite was destroyed. North Korea did not deploy the Taepo Dong one missile after this .The US agreed with North Korea to have a nuclear test which was not fruitful. Since that time, it took North Korea eight more years to design another missile. The rate at which North Korea develops missile bodies is not alarming nor is it aggressive enough to alarm a serious threat to world peace, Concharov, Sergei N; Lewis, John W. and Xue L, (1995). Conclusion North Korea has for long been suspected to be in procession of nuclear weapon and even at one time in the year 1989 caused an alarm for a cold war. Though the country has the necessary materials to design and develop weapons of mass destruction, the literature shows that the country dopes not pose any serious threat at this point in time. The country in the first place does not have enough resources to involve itself in to such an expensive indulgence every now and then. North Korea has also not demonstrated enough powerless in the latest technology to raise any alarm on issues of world peace. Several tests on nuclear weapons in North Korea have turned not fruitful. References Concharov, Sergei N; Lewis, John W. and Xue L, (1995): Uncertain Partners: Partners, Anford University Press Greimel, H. (2006): North Korea threatens war over sanctions, Associated Press. Gromyko, Andrei A. (1990): American Intervention in Korea, Modern History Sourcebook Henderson, Gregory (1986): Korea: The Politics of the Vortex. Harvard University Press. William J., David E. Sanger, (2004): A Tale of Nuclear Proliferation: How North Korea Built His Network, New York Times Read More