North Korea’s Nuclear Threat | Gist of Rajya Sabha TV / RSTV (now Sansad TV) - UPSC PDF Download

Introduction

• North Korea has passed a law officially declaring it a nuclear weapons state, a status that leader Kim Jong Un said is; irreversible; and that there would be no negotiations. He stressed his country will never abandon the nuclear weapons it needs to counter the US, which he accused of pushing to weaken the North’s defences and eventually collapse his government. He made the comments during a speech at North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament, where members passed the legislation. The law included a provision that requires North Korea’s military to automatically execute nuclear strikes against enemy forces if its leadership comes under attack. A blitz of North Korean weapons tests since January included the firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile at full range for the first time since 2017. Washington and South Korean officials have repeatedly warned that the North is preparing to carry out what would be its seventh nuclear test.

North Korea’s threats

• North Korea has frequently employed bellicose rhetoric towards its perceived enemies.
• In 1994 South Koreans stocked up on essentials in panic after a threat by a North Korean negotiator to turn Seoul into “a sea of fire” – one which has been repeated several times since.
• After US President George W Bush labeled it part of the “axis of evil” in 2002, Pyongyang said it would “mercilessly wipe out the aggressors”.
• In June 2012 the army warned that artillery was aimed at seven South Korean media groups and threatened a “merciless sacred war”.

Reasons for such policy

• The small nation north Korea finds its very core strength in the nuclear stockpilesand its power to bend the other mighty world powers.
• Adopting a two-pronged strategy, North Korea fast-tracked its missile and nuclear programmes and expressed a willingness to negotiate with other nations in the world.
• North Korea has resisted against the US hegemony by portraying its nuclear strengths.
• The hard sanctions on North Korea are damaging its economy. The continuous policy of sanctions has alienated this nation, making it inclined towards hard policy options such as brinkmanship.
• One of the reason putforthes by analysts ids the doctorial regime in this nation. The lack of people say in state affairs has allowed a small group of people to take decisions.
• Since the Korean War ended, Pyongyang has repeatedly shown its ability to strike neighbours and foreign interests in the region, often in response to what it sees as provocation.
• North Korea wants to be recognised as a legitimate nuclear state by the US and establish diplomatic relations with the US. Constantly reminding the world and especially the US of their nuclear and missile capabilities is part of their regime survival calculations.

International perspective

• This test has to be seen in the current context when the Americans have withdrawn their troops from Afghanistan and they are trying to reassess regional security issues.
• So, the North Koreans want to emphasise they are a critical component of the US’s regional security concern.
• This activity highlights North Korea’s continuing focus on developing its military programand the threats that it poses to its neighbours and the international community.

Conclusion

• World has witnessed one of the worst destructions and inhuman activityduring second World War, when USA attacked Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was a Nuclear attack.
• It is the responsibility of all the Nationsto keep a check on nuclear arsenal of other nations. Also United Nation has to play a leading role in this.
• Universal ratification of NPT and CTBT is the need of an hour.
• The UN treaty on complete abolition of atomic arms, whose deliberations were boycotted by all nuclear weapons states, is the morally superior alternative.