The North Korean Nuclear Crisis

The confrontation between North Korea (Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea) and the International Atomic Energy Agency over North Korea's nuclear program presents a serious risk of war in Northeast Asia and poses an unprecedented test for the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty and the IAEA's system of inspections and audits called "safeguards." By withdrawing from the NPT and then suspending its withdraw- al at the urging of the U.S., North Korea is claiming a "special status" that gives it the right to nuclear technology enjoyed by treaty parties, but not the obligation to open all its nuclear activities to IAEA inspectors. The crisis raises a number of important issues, including the effectiveness and enforceability of the NPT and IAEA safe- guards, the proliferation risks of civilian use of weapon-usable nuclear materials (plu- tonium and highly enriched uranium), destabilizing interactions among nuclear pro- grams using these materials in Northeast Asia, and potential consequences of con- ventional attacks on nuclear plants in North and South Korea that could amount to nuclear war conducted by conventional means. (MG1:164-175)