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

  • Response to North Korea launch 'hyped'

    While the same type of rocket that can launch a satellite into space can also carry a nuclear warhead thousands of miles, Joe Cirincione said that North Korea's ballistic missile program appeared capable of carrying only a small satellite into orbi

    April 6, 2009 - By Joe Cirincione

  • Failed North Korea test gives breathing room

    The failure of North Korea's rocket to reach orbit buys time to address the security threat, though the launch's partial success could boost Pyongyang's sales of missile technology to Syria, Iran and others, according to diplomats and analysts.

    April 6, 2009 - By Sarah Brown

  • Failed North Korea launch gives breathing room

    The failure of North Korea's rocket to reach orbit Sunday buys time to address the security threat, but the launch's partial success could boost Pyongyang's sales of missile technology to Syria, Iran and others, Joe Cirincione says.  He called

    April 6, 2009 - By Joe Cirincione

  • Ploughshares Fund's Paul Carroll discusses North Korean launch

    Ploughshares Fund Program Director Paul Carroll analyzed North Korea’s recent missile launch on the KPFA Morning Show.  Carroll commented, “We need to keep in mind that this

    April 6, 2009 - By Sarah Brown

  • North Korea's missile flight a failure

    North Korea’s effort to fire a satellite into orbit failed, according to experts. From a technical standpoint, the failure would likely seriously delay the missile’s debut. “It’s got to be embarrassing,” said Ploughshares grantee Geoffrey Forden of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “I can imagine heads flying if the ‘Dear Leader’ finds out the satellite didn’t fly into orbit.” 

    April 5, 2009 - By Sarah Brown

  • North Korean launch not cause for panic

    by Joseph Cirincione

    North Korea's thinly disguised missile test violates U.N. resolutions and should be condemned. But it is not a serious threat to the United States, nor does it justify a crash program to deploy an expensive, unproven anti-missile system.

    April 5, 2009 - By Joe Cirincione

  • International Outcry over North Korean Missile Launch

    Experts from around the world, including many leading Ploughshares Fund grantees, condemned the launch yesterday of what is believed to be North Korea's long-range Taepo Dong-2 rocket satellite carrier.  The Arms Control Asso

    April 5, 2009 - By Deborah Bain

  • Experts call for direct U.S.-North Korea talks

    According to a group of U.S. experts, the United States should conduct direct talks with North Korea, alongside the current six-nation negotiations.  The group of 10 former senior U.S.

    April 3, 2009 - By Sarah Brown

  • David Albright discusses North Korean launch on MSNBC

    As North Korea fuels its long-range missile in preparation for launch, David Albright of the Ploughshares-funded Institute for Science and International Security discussed the possibilities of the laun

    April 2, 2009 - By Sarah Brown

  • What to do about Pyongyang

    by Henry Sokolski

    The Obama administration just lost Round 1 in its diplomatic engagement with North Korea. Despite White House pleas for Pyongyang not to violate United Nations Security Council resolution (UNSC) 1718, which bans North Korea from launching ballistic missiles, Pyongyang has finished its preparations to launch a “peaceful” space-launch vehicle, a system that is indistinguishable from an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Aggravating the insult, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent a delegation of 15 senior Iranian launch experts from the Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group to help out. Pyongyang announced it will fire the rocket sometime between April 4 and 8.

    April 2, 2009 - By Anonymous