I have been blogging about North Korea’s nuclear program for the past few days. I am spending a lot of time on N.K. because it is the most belligerent of nuclear powers on Earth and often threatens to launch pre-emptive military strikes on South Korea and other nations including the United States. Yesterday, I talked about the period from 2002 to 2008 and ended with an apparent “deal” between North Korea and other nations to end N.K. development of nuclear weapons in return for aid.
In 2009, N.K. attempted to launched a satellite which it claimed would only be used for broadcasting patriotic songs, but the launch was a failure. A U.N. resolution condemned the launch and N.K. responded by saying that it will not participate in any six party talks again and it will not be bound by any agreements from such talks. They expelled the U.N. inspectors and stated their intention to restart their nuclear program. Spent fuel reprocessing for plutonium was restarted. N.K. also announced that it was going to build its own thirty megawatt light water reactor and uranium enrichment facilities to create fuel for the new reactor.
This pattern has been repeated over and over with N.K. They are coaxed to the bargaining table, a deal is worked out for foreign aid, U.N. inspections and an end to nuclear weapons development. Things seem to proceed for a while and then there is some incident or disagreement and it is back to square one.
A two thousand gas centrifuge enrichment plant began operating in 2010. In 2011, satellite photographs showed that N.K. was proceeding swiftly with the construction of the light water reactor. U.S. intelligence agencies estimated that the reactor would be operational by 2013. N.K. also announced that it intended to build larger light water reactors for electricity generation.
In early 2012, N.K. offers to suspend uranium enrichment, nuclear bomb tests and long range missile launches as long as “productive” negotiations with the U.S. continue. N.K also said that U.N. inspectors could return to Yongbyon. The U.S. states that it does not have any “hostile intent” toward N.K. and that it is ready to restore diplomatic relationships with N.K. In addition, twenty four thousand tons of food aid was promised to N.K. These steps would lead to restoration of the six party talks. This agreement, referred to as the Leap Day Deal, was signed on February 29th, 2012. Once again there was hope that the N.K. nuclear program could be brought to a halt and relationships normalized between N.K. and other nations including the U.S.
Potential ranges of North Korean Missiles:
