North Korea

Experts estimate that North Korea may have enough plutonium and highly enriched uranium for 20 to 25 nuclear weapons, a tiny amount compared to nations like China, the United States or Russia. But the crisis with North Korea presents one of the greatest global security threats today. And the crisis is only getting worse as Pyongyang races to develop its ability to strike targets farther and farther away.

Verbal threats and other provocations between the North and the US have stoked this growing fire, bringing us to the brink of war in mid 2017. North Korea has developed an ICBM capable of reaching the United States and reportedly has a miniaturized nuclear warhead to match. If diplomatic action isn’t taken soon, it may be only a matter of time before a devastating regional war breaks out in the region. Threatening military action in the region  will almost certainly fail, but more ominously will likely result in one or more of three outcomes, all of them bad: accidental war or military miscalculation, weapons-grade plutonium or uranium secreted out of North Korea, and Pyongyang increasing its leverage by continuing to produce fissile material. Ploughshares Fund and its grantees are committed to preventing a humanitarian catastrophe and finding a peaceful resolution to the North Korea crisis.

Latest News and Analysis on Nuclear Weapons in North Korea

  • Nuclear test ban could become reality without North Korea

    The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty can be brought into force despite North Korea's repeated nuclear tests and continued intransigence, experts say.

    June 4, 2009 - By Sarah Brown

  • Joe Cirincione Interviewed by CNN's Barbara Starr

    Babara Starr interviews Joe Cirincione about North Korea's recent nuclear and missile tests.

    June 2, 2009 - By Ploughshares Fund

  • Joe Cirincione on NPR's Diane Rehm Show

    June 2, 2009 - By Ploughshares Fund

  • Kristol's Losing Gambit

    It is not news when Bill Kristol recommends starting a war. It is his default foreign policy option. On Sunday, his answer to North Korea was to launch air strikes, as he was “certain” that North Korea is determined to become a nuclear power and there was no other way to stop them.

    June 1, 2009 - By Joe Cirincione

  • Paul Carroll interviewed on North Korea nuclear test

    In several radio interviews, Ploughshares Fund Program Director Paul Carroll discussed the implications of North Korea’s recent nuclear test. Asked by KPCC radio host Patt Morrison about the possible motivations behind the test, Carroll replied, “I think it’s fair to say that it could be seen as more about internal dynamics and perhaps regional dynamics than getting the attention of the United States or sending a signal to Washington.  I think that may be, from Kim Jong Il’s perspective, icing on the cake or an added benefit.”

    June 1, 2009 - By Sarah Brown

  • Using North Korea to make case for missile defense

    Advocates for the U.S. missile defense shield cite North Korea as a compelling reason not to cut the program, although other officials and experts argue the system is not an effective way to fight North Korea’s missile development.

    May 31, 2009 - By Sarah Brown

  • Seismologists monitor North Korea's nuclear blasts

    Seismologists continue to estimate the strength of North Korea’s most recent nuclear test, using a global system to detect such blasts.

    May 30, 2009 - By Sarah Brown

  • How to reduce the nuclear threat

    "The spread of weapons-usable nuclear technologies may push the world to a dangerous tipping point," wrote former Secretary of Defense William Perry, former National Security Advisor Brent Snowcroft, and Dr. Charles Ferguson, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a Ploughshares Fund grantee, in an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal. "North Korea -- despite nearly universal opposition -- has developed a small nuclear arsenal and on Monday demonstrated its capability with a successful nuclear test. "To prevent further proliferation, the Obama administration needs to leverage the next 12 months in the run-up to the May 2010 Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference...The U.S. must redouble global efforts to enact the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty on nuclear weapons, call for a ban on the production of fissile material for weapons, and provide sustainable resources to the International Atomic Energy Agency -- the world's 'nuclear watchdog.'"

    May 28, 2009 - By Sarah Brown

  • Joe Cirincione Discusses Tensions with North Korea on Russia Today

    May 28, 2009 - By Joe Cirincione

  • One More Reason to Worry about North Korea

    Salon.com - Here is one more thing about North Korea that you haven't worried about yet. Then, two more things that might make you feel better.

    May 28, 2009 - By Joe Cirincione