The Debate on Nuclear Weapons

The Debate on Nuclear Weapons

            The North Korea Nuclear program is an article published in 2005 about the debate associated with the nuclear weapon plan by North Korea. The article was done by Larry A. Niksch and later updated in 2015.The attempts by North Korea to continue investing in nuclear weapon development and the export of dangerous war missiles have been attracting significant attention from the US and the international community. The international community has been trying to engage North Korea in negotiations aimed at stopping the nuclear plan by North Korea. However, the attempts have met several crisis and stalemates with North Korea posing the major challenge in the denuclearization programme of the international community. The United States has been at the forefront in the war against nuclear weaponry advocated by North Korea due to the threat that North Korea poses to the US borders. Several negotiation attempts have taken place with the US and North Korea being the major parties, but a significant solution has not been obtained. The most recent negotiation between the US and North Korea was the Hanoi summit that was a negotiation meeting between the presidents of the two countries. Globalization and technology have significantly affected the outcome of such negotiations with the leaders having in mind that the world is looking into whatever they are discussing and the outcomes of the negotiations will be felt worldwide.

The nuclear negotiations with North Korea have been unsuccessful due to the adamant nature of North Korea to conform to the world belief towards nuclear weaponry. North Korea has been going on with its nuclear plan for a significant number of years with the excuse of protecting its boundaries from external enemies (Pollack, 2017). A large percentage of North Korea’s economic revenue is spent on funding military preparations and making of nuclear weapons. The United Nations has classified nuclear weapons as dangerous weapons that should not be allowed into the free market at all cost. The claim by the United Nations is that the spread of nuclear weapons could lead to the weapons falling into the wrong hands such as terrorists’ possession which could adversely impact world peace and lead to several deaths.

The first significant peace talks happened in 1994 when North Korea announced its withdrawal from the Nonproliferation Treaty that required nations to shun all attempts to make nuclear weapons. North Korea was convinced that withdrawal from the treaty could give her the freedom to go on with nuclear programs without international regulations. The attempt by North Korea forced the US to seek an agreement, and both countries signed the Agreed Framework with the then North Korean president promising to abandon all the nuclear works. However, the agreement broke in 2002, and North Korea was back to its original nuclear attempts (Wertz, & McGrath, 2016). A second attempt was initiated in 2003 and was referred to as the Six-Party talks and included China, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Russia, and the US. The talks, however, took several years before culminating to visible results and even collapsed in 2009 following disagreements between the parties involved and the international condemnation against North Korea’s attempt to launch a rocket.

The impact of technology has been evident in the current state of nuclear negotiations. The impact has been taking various directions with North Korea being on the receiving end of the positive outcomes. North Korea’s nuclear plan involves major improvements in technology, which has attracted the attention of several nations. Nuclear energy is by far a very efficient source of nuclear energy and North Korea has been getting support from several nations due to the benefits that they may enjoy if North Korea is left to proceed with the nuclear plan. The attempts of the international community have been motivated by the fear of the impacts that could accompany improved warfare technology. On the same note, allowing North Korea to proceed with its nuclear plan could cause a world disaster since the nuclear ideologies might spread first with the current state of technology. The advancement of technology could have seemed to be a breakthrough for North Korea’s plan and thus forcing North Korea to stop its nuclear plan could as well be hard considering the potential presented by technology towards the success of the nuclear plan. On one side of the debate is the international community that thinks the combination of nuclear weapons and technology could be deadly. On the other side, North Korea believes that the integration of technology into the nuclear plan could save the world in terms of weaponry and energy production. The beliefs held by the two parties appear to broaden the gap that needs to be closed to reach an agreement between the two parties.

The globalization of the process has impacted the nuclear debate. Both parties involved in the debate have made a global influence and earned significant support, which makes convincing one party to step back on the debate, becoming next to impossible. Trade has been the most globalized issue affecting the various nations involved in the debate. For example, North Korea contacts ninety percent of her international trade with China and the negotiations involving China could see China favoring North Korea’s course. The relations between countries have been of significant impact on the successful attempt of the international community in stopping North Korea’s nuclear plan. The use of economic sanctions by the US and the United Nations has been of less impact since North Korea has other trade partners in the world and the countries enacting the sanctions are lacking the support of the countries involved in active trade with North Korea. Globalization could also have positive impacts on the course of trying to stop North Korea’s nuclear plan. The international community can use the cooperation of global partners in making the impact of economic sanctions more felt by North Korea. North Korea has been compelled into accepting the proposal by the international community on most occasions, but the commitment appears to fade with the relaxation of the parties involved in maintaining their stand on the nuclear issue.

In sum, the nuclear issue has been a history-creating experience with the battle revolving around the US and North Korea. The international community has regularly been intervening to support the US attempts to stop North Korea from making nuclear weapons and launching missiles. Despite the several negotiation attempts, a tangible solution has not yet been found for the nuclear issue, and the parties involved have continued to push for their course, hoping that a solution will be obtained. Technology and globalization have come in to impact the direction of various negotiations differently.