North Korea’s Growing Nuclear Missile Program

An issue that the international society is currently facing is the crisis in North Korea officially known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. In particular, North Korea’s growing nuclear missile program is a serious concern for nations such as South Korea, Japan, and the United States, and was highlighted when North Korea launched a missile over Japan and the tension between these nations grew rapidly. In 1910 Korea was annexed by Japan and after the Second World War it was divided into two, with the north being occupied by the Soviet Union and the south by the United States of America(New World Enclopedia, 2018) In 1948 separate governments were formed because negotiations failed and then the Korean War happened after North Korea tried to invade South Korea(New World Enclopedia, 2018) It ended in 1953, but they did not sign a peace treaty. The tensions between the two countries and other nations is currently an important international issue (New World Enclopedia, 2018) The most radical option in tackling this issue is military action against North Korea. In 2017, US President Trump threatened North Korea with ‘fire and fury’ and North Korea sent several missiles over Japan and said they would launch missiles on Guam ( Bloomberg, Fortune, 2017) Also, the United States military exercises conducted in South Korea seem to be a concerning factor for North Korea, as it is geographically close to North Korea( Helene Cooper, NY Times, 2018) Lowering the number of military exercises in South Korea, or at least reducing US military presence in South Korea may lead to North Korea feeling safer and consequently lessen the need for nuclear weapons and a suspension of its nuclear research ( Helene Cooper, NY Times, 2018) It seems that military action is the least effective method to solve the problem and would inevitably lead to war which would have terrible consequences. North Korea has been economically sanctioned by various nations since the 1950s. (Prableen Bajpal, Investopedia, 2015) However, nations such as China and Russia continue to trade with North Korea. The cooperation of these two nations will be essential if we are aiming for a long-lasting peace between the world and North Korea. Pressure must be applied to China as China has strong trade relations with North Korea, giving leverage for China to pressure North Korea on denuclearisation (Victor Cha, Time, when?) Russia is also an important element involved in the crisis. Russia has tried to protect North Korea from the United States. Its geographic location provides an advantage for Russia. Russia has been actively trying to prevent strong UN sanctions against North Korea, as Russia, similar to China does not think sanctions are effective. (Elizabeth C. Economy, CFS, 2018) In recent years the United State’s economic sanctions conducted toward North Korea seem to have had no effect, but normalizing relations between the nation seems to have a similar effect. The final and best solution to the problem of North Korea is probably negotiations. South Korea has tried to negotiate with North Korea and the Sunshine Policy started in 1998 was very successful at the time and many countries normalised relations with North Korea then. When Lee Myung-bak, the President of Korea in the early 2000s, became hard on North Korea their relationship broke down. This shows it was better to have a positive policy towards them, and that it would be good for South Korea to further negotiate with North Korea. Russia could help with these negotiations. Russia has similar relations with South Korea and North Korea making them a good middle man for negotiations as Russia holds certain levels of leverage over North Korea in trade. This could be the key in solving the issue and although completely denuclearizing North Korea may be impossible, it may become less of a threat to the international community.

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