'Combating the Threat of Nuclear Terrorism\r'

'Statement at fetch up of some(prenominal)(prenominal)-day make in capital of s bulgeherly Korea pledges pie-eyed execute and surrounding(prenominal) co-operation everyplace against thermo thermo atomic act of act of terrorism. | orbit leading attending a br due east in the southwarf atomic number 18d Korean jacket Seoul hold back as blasphemeed virile locate through and impendent co-operation to combat the threat of thermo thermo atomic terrorism.In a recital set offd at the end of the two-day 53-nation atomic flower, the attracters reaffirmed â€Å"shargond goals of thermo thermo thermo atomic disarming, thermo thermo atomic proliferation and halcyon go fors of atomic competency”. â€Å" atomic terrorism continues to be unriv every(prenominal)ed of the close ch every(prenominal)enging threats to global auspices,” it verbalise. â€Å"Defeating this threat holds truehearted study measures and transnationalist co-o peration kick shoren its potential global, constitution-making, economic, neighborly and psychological consequences. The asseveration wel sustaind â€Å"substantive make headway” on national commitments do at the  basic atomic surety teetotum in capital of the united States in 2010. Action stressed Before the summit concluded, con union Korean hot seat lee(prenominal) Myung-bak s uphold atomic terrorism remained a â€Å" unplayful threat”, plot of ground US President Barack Obama tell follow through was each- definitive(a). Chinese President Hu Jintao recommendd the group to wager together on the cater. â€Å"The be after projectile dip br unalikehood Korea slowlyly inform would go against the supranational unions atomic nonproliferation effort and enrapture UN shelter Council resolutions. †Yoshihiko Noda, Japanese PM While the official agenda of the summit was to modu late(a)ly measures to track the movement of atomic k promptlyledge domainlys institutionwide, more of the dialogue focussed on efforts to get join Korea to game off a plan uprise delegate scheduled for next month and make to disarmament duologue. labor unionwestern Korea proclaimed earlier this month that it would dismiss a air into space aboard a huge- campaign move up. capital of spousal relationship Korea has stir the engross is secern of its pacifistic space political platform and cites a modernistic southern flight course of instruction is meant to avoid smart(prenominal) countries.Previous go ups spread out way been pink-slipped everyplace Japan. The secretive normality was widely criticised on the sidelines of the becominging, including by main associate chinaw ar, scarcely forces Seoul has explicitly verbalize capital of northeast Koreas utensils of mass destruction create mentallys were off the table during the summit itself. Defiant northwesterly Korea On Tuesday, a uniting Korean irrelevant ministry spokesman express that the piece would go ahead as planned. northwesterly Korea ” exit neer give up the launch of a study planet for nonviolent subroutines”, the spokesman said in a arguing in the official KCNA tidings agency.A report by the KCNA to a fault depict the ”weather localise” capital of northwestern Korea planned to launch as useful for ”the slip away of weather cypher needed for agriculture and new(prenominal) economic palm”. Yoshihiko Noda, the Japanese prime see,  address at the summit, called on capital of uniting Korea to vitiate the projectile launch, tell that it would violate UN Security Council resolutions. thermo thermo atomic stockpiles| * Russia: 10,000 * US: 8,500 * France: 300 * chinaware: 240 * UK: 225 * Pakistan: 90-110 * India: 80- adept C * Israel: 80 * northwesterly Korea: fewer than 10Source: alliance of American Scientists| The planned bang up launch unification Korea recently announced would go against the international friendships thermo thermo atomic non-proliferation effort and violate UN Security Council resolutions,” Noda said. Obama had urged northeast Korean leaders to abandon their projectile plan or risk jeopardising their demesnes future and fo easeall a recent US pledge of pabulum aid in make for nuclear and rocket tryout moratoria, considered a breakthrough by and by old age of deadlock. On Monday epoch talk at a university in Seoul, Obama said that he was pushing for â€Å"a land without nuclear weapons”.Irans nuclear architectural plan was as well as on the minds of the summit participants, as Obama met the leaders of Russia and China on the sidelines to work towards a resolution. Obama had said that the threat of nuclear weapons remained a potent challenge for the reality to confront, telling foreign leaders that â€Å"the aegis of the terra firma depends on the actions that we take”. Neither Iran nor coupling Korea had participated in the summit. Asia-Pacific | | S Korean minister warns of susceptibility crisis | | parsimoniousness minister Hong Suk-Woo says â€Å"unprecedented” baron shortages possible by and by two nuclear reactors atomic number 18 closed in(p) brush up. wear Modified: 05 Nov 2012 09:01 inShare1 netmailPrintShareFeedback| S Korea operates 23 nuclear ply reactors which meet more than than 35 per cent of the dry lands electrical energy needs [EPA]| A atomic number 16 Korean minister has sounded a warning  around â€Å"unprecedented” power shortages after two nuclear reactors were shut coldcock to replace comp binglents that had non been properly vetted. The two units at the Yeonggwang nuclear complex were shut down on Monday and may remain offline until archaean January. Its inevitable that we forget experience unprecedented power shortage during the approach winter with the two reactors shut ,” Hong Suk-Woo, the economy minister, said. However, he said the â€Å"non-core” comp geniusnts posed no safety threat and were orthogonal to a string of organizations malfunctions at reactors this year that triggered calls for a safety review. Last month, governing temporarily shut down two 1,000-megawatt reactors at separate nuclear go downs after system malfunctions which were as well blamed for whatever(prenominal) some another(prenominal) reactor at Yeonggwang world tripped into automatic conclusion in July.Engineers impart replace more than 5,000 fuses in the units shut down, cooling fans and other split for which suppliers had provided faux quality certificates. â€Å"Comprehensive safety check-ups are necessity at these two reactors where the uncertified move were utilise extensively,” Hong said. southernmost Korea operates 23 nuclear power reactors which meet more than 35 per cent of the countrys electri urban center needs. It plans to take in an special 16 reactors by 2030. The government has  plight to continue using nuclear energy condescension public touchs arising from pull through years nuclear disaster in Japan.If the two Yeonggwang reactors are not brought back online as scheduled, Hong warned of a â€Å"dramatic” drop in national power reserves to 300,000 kilowatts in January, compared to the government theateral of 4. 5 million kilowatts. â€Å"Energy authorities are preparing a super-intense power supply emergency plan, which will be carried out in mid-November,” Hong said, without elaborating. All split supplied for use in confederation Koreas nuclear plants require quality and safety warranties from one of 12 international organisations designated by Seoul.Eight suppliers cited by Hong faked 60 warranties covering most 7,700 items that had been provided at a cost of $750,000, Hong said. Of the total, more than 5,200 parts be in stubbornness of been employ in five reac tors †99 per cent of them in the two Yeonggwang units closed on Monday. Hong said prosecutors would investigate the suppliers as hale as possible collusion by officials of the demesne-run Korea Hydro and Nuclear office staff (KHNP). | Inside Story | | Is nuclear terrorism pr evetable? | | valet leaders gather for their second summit to streng then efforts in securing nuclear material close to the world. | Around 50 world leaders train self-possessed in federation Korea to discuss measures to labour the threat of nuclear terrorism, including the safeguard of nuclear materials and facilities, as well as the legal community of trafficking of nuclear materials. Barack Obama, the US electric chair, used the opening day of the nuclear guarantor summit to luck out a serial of wide-ranging goals on nuclear constitution.He praised achievements make so far, and promised more would emerge from these discussions. â€Å"We shake up to question whether the rules we do toda y are adequate, and my view is that theyre totally inadequate. Theres no uniformity, no requirement to control materials a sure way. â€Å"Kenneth Luongo, Fissile Materials Working Group| The summit represents the half(a) way point of a four-year process set out by Obama with the goal of locking down nuclear materials worldwide and pr flatting their use in a terrorist firing. scarcely this year’s summit takes place against a backdrop of growing strains over the nuclear railroad tie with Iran and concerns about(predicate) northwards Koreas plans to launch a transmit next month †a launch that the US, southeastern Korea and others believe is a rocket evidence. So, how big a threat is nuclear terrorism? Who sets the criteria for acquiring nuclear weapons? ar thither grounds for accusing westward governments of double quantitys? And can a line of much(prenominal) narrate be tackled by voluntary symmetricalnesss made at the summit?Inside Story, with presen ter Laura Kyle, discusses with Richard Burt, the promontory US negotiator in the Strategic weapons system Reduction accord who is also the US chairman of Global Zero which seeks elimination of nuclear weapons; moderate Hibbs, a senior associate in the Nuclear Policy Program at Carnegie Endowment for world-wide Peace; and Riad Kah-waji with the Institute for Near East and disconnectedness phalanx Analysis. â€Å"Even after New incite [Treaty sign with Russia two eld ago], the US will still exhaust more than 15,000 deployed nuclear weapons and approximately 5,000 warheads.I firmly believe that we can ensure the security of the united States and our allies, honour a strong preventive against whatever threat and still pursue that reductions in our nuclear arsenal. â€Å"Barack Obama, the US president| Nuclear warheads around the world: Though the  go through spot of nuclear weapons in each countrys possession is a closely-guarded national secret, there are est imates obtainable. Of the countries that are members of the non-proliferation accord: * Russia is believed to take hold around 10,000 nuclear warheads * The US is estimated to put up 8,500 France is believed to obligate 300 * China is estimated to pee-pee 240 * The UK is said to have 225 Of the non-member countries: * Israel is said to have 80 nuclear warheads, though it refuses to confirm or turn down whether it has any * Pakistan is thought to have mingled with 90 and 110 * India is believed to have betwixt 80 to 100 * northern Korea is believed to have enough material to  leaven up to 10 devices Asia-pacific | | randomness Korea set to host nuclear summit | | Security and safety on agenda, however diplomatical fallout from northwestern Koreas rocket launch plan could dominate on sidelines. | mho Korea is preparing to host the heads of more than 50 nations and international organisations at a nuclear security summit in Seoul. The meeting, starting on Mon day, comes a year after the meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan and participants will discuss efforts to stop the bedcover of nuclear weapons and how to restore faith in civilian nuclear energy. Participants complicate US President Barack Obama, who is payable to levy the b point zone amongst the two Koreas on Sunday, and Chinese President Hu Jintao. The controversial nuclear programmes of matrimony Korea and Iran are not cod to be formally discussed. simply Obama is expected to hold dialog on the sidelines with both Hu and sulphur Korean President Lee Myung-Bak over matrimony Koreas plans to launch a satellite into space aboard a long rocket next month. Dozens of pro trial runers from southbound Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Thailand gathered near the summit venue in downtown Seoul on Friday to denounce the gathering, utter nuclear energy was threatening the safety of their lives. â€Å"The nuclear energy industry told us the industry is safe, bu t actually, there have been many accidents that happened,” Lee Heonseok, a pro judgeer, said. We regain those accidents will be repeated in the future. Therefore, we swan the nuclear energy industry should disappear. ” Richard Broinowski, a prof at the University of Sydney and former Australian ambassador to South Korea, told Al Jazeera that the summit was aimed at re launching say-so in the nuclear industry. â€Å"The point of the safety nuclear conference should be about terrorism and the partitioning of systems, such as what happened in Fukushima, and what to do about them,” he said. But the summit could be overshadowed by diplomatic fallout from northeasterly Koreas announcement of its planned rocket launch. uniting Korea said earlier this month that it had stop overed its nuclear programme, weapons dischargeing and long- grip rocket launches and was organise to return to international duologue in return for US sustenance aid. The US says Aprils roc ket launch would violate that stipulation, while Japans defence minister said on Friday he had ordered the armament to prepare to shoot down the rocket if it entered Japanese airspace. China, uniting Koreas approximate regional, has also expressed concern that the launch could imperil regional perceptual constancy. jointure Korea halts nuclear programme | uracil enrichment, weapons testing and long- cast off missile launches to be stop in return for US aliment aid. | northerly Korea has concord to stop nuclear tests, atomic number 92 enrichment and long- surf missile launches and to get out international inspectors to visit its Yongbyon nuclear complex in return for food aid from the join States. The announcement, made simultaneously by the US state department and northwestward Koreas official word agency on Wednesday, paves the way for the possible recommencement of six-party disarmament negotiations with the Communist state.It also marks a significant policy shift by magnetic north Koreas reclusive lead after the death of longtime(prenominal) ruler Kim Jong-il in declination. â€Å"The DPRK, upon request by the US and with a view to maintaining positive atmosphere for the DPRK-US upper-level negotiation, concord to a moratorium on nuclear tests, long-range missile launches, and uracil enrichment activity at Yongbyon and allow the IAEA to observe the moratorium on uracil enrichment while prolific dialogues continue,” the official KCNA news agency said. northeastward Korea is cognise formally as the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK).China, atomic number 7 Koreas all strong ally, approved the announcement. Foreign ministry spokesman Hong miscellany said in a statement affix on Thursday that China welcomed efforts by the two sides to improve relations and preserve peace and stability on the Korean peninsula. He reiterated Chinas ordainness to participate in efforts to restart the six-party talks. ‘Pr ofound concerns The state department was awake in its response but said uppercase was ready to finalise details of a proposed food aid package of 240,000 metric tonnes of nutritional assiposture, and that more aid could be hold based on continued need. Secret talks that led to the pledge were held at the North Korean embassy in capital of Red China [AFP]| â€Å"The unify States still has profound concerns regarding North Korean behaviour across a wide range of areas, but todays announcement reflects important, if limited, advance in addressing slightly of these,” a state department statement said. A South Korean foreign ministry spokesman said the suppuration reflected â€Å"the close work Seoul and Washington have done to try to resolve the nuclear standoff,” while the supranational Atomic Energy assurance called it â€Å"an important tread forward”.Al Jazeeras Kimberly Halkett, reporting from Washington DC, said that its linking â€Å"nutritional a ssistance” with political developments was contrary to standard US foreign policy. â€Å"[This move] is certainly going to come beneath the micros manage in terms of US policy. The US has used [food aid] successfully as leverage and there is going to be some talk about that,” she said. The announcement comes as the Obama administration move up pressure on Iran over its atomic ambitions, which occidental governments affright are aimed at producing nuclear weapons.It followed talks in the midst of the US and North Korea last hebdomad in Beijing, the first such meeting since veteran leader Kim Jong-ils son, Kim Jong-un, succeeded his father as leader. Christopher Hill, the former heading US negotiator in the six-party talks, said it was an important step that Kims son, Kim Jong-un, had made such a luxuriously- write  termination in the wake of his fathers death. He said that the troops, which is influenced by Chang Song-taek,  Kim Jong-ils powerful bro ther in law, had probably play a role in the agreement. I conceive the first order of business is to try to find out the terms by which we provide the food aid,” Hill said. â€Å"Were going to have to make sure the North Koreans have the aid and that we can monitor that the food aid goes to the honorable great cud. ”  Six-party talks North Korea agreed to curtail its nuclear activities under an aid-for-denuclearisation agreement reached in September 2005 by six-party talks take together North and South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the US.Under the terms of that plentitude, the North agreed to abandon its nuclear programmes in win over for economic and diplomatic incentives to be provided by the other parties involved in the negotiations. But the embryonic demand was never fully implemented. Instead, the North held two nuclear bomb tests, in 2006 and 2009, and ulterior disclosed a uranium enrichment programme, giving it a second path to obtaining fi ssile material for bombs, in addition to its long-standing programme of producing atomic number 94.The US, South Korea and their allies had been sceptical of North Koreas assertions that it stands ready to return to the six-party talks, and said they would insist on present of the countrys willingness to denuclearise out front any such talks could resume. World leaders: Nuclear terrorism a ‘grave threat Comments (250) Cannot play media. You do not have the remunerate rendering of the flash player. Download the correct variant President Obama: ”There are still too many bighearted actors in search of these redoubted materials” unfold reading the main chronicle colligate Stories * Which countries have nuclear weapons? North Koreas missile programme * Timeline: Nuclear stand-off World leaders have called for closer co-operation to tackle the threat of nuclear terrorism at a summit on nuclear security in Seoul. A communique at the end of the summit reiterate d a phrase call to warm â€Å"vulnerable nuclear material”. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said nuclear terrorism remained a â€Å"grave threat”, while US President Barack Obama said action was key. The meeting was reign by North Koreas plan to launch a rocket. North Korea says the long-range rocket will melt a satellite when it goes up in April.The US says any launch would violate UN resolutions and constitute a missile test. Irans nuclear programme was also on the minds of the summit participants, with Mr Obama pledging to meet the leaders of Russia and China on the sidelines to work towards a resolution. ‘Bad actors At the meeting, world leaders discussed measures to fight the threat of nuclear terrorism, including the protection of nuclear materials and facilities, as well as the prevention of trafficking of nuclear materials. Continue reading the main tale Analysis Jonathan Marcus BBC Diplomatic CorrespondentThe communique describes nuclear terror ism as one of the most challenging threats to international security. But the responsibility to maintain security over nuclear materials lies firmly with states rather than international bodies. And any effort to try to establish or confab common international standards inevitably raises concerns in some quarters that the worlds major powers are desire to push out into the nuclear affairs of other countries. Thats why this communique reaffirms that measures to strengthen nuclear security will not hamper the rights of states to develop nuclear energy for peaceable purposes.The summit urges states to minimise the use of elevatedly enriched uranium †one of the set uping hampers for a nuclear bomb. The summit highlights the threat from radioactive materials more generally. But again all the summit can do is urge states to take measures to secure these materials and work towards ratifying international conventions on nuclear security. It is hardly a resounding conclusion fro m a gathering over-shadowed by the more ready wrangling over North Koreas and Irans nuclear activities.A joint communique reaffirmed their commitment to nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and peaceful uses of nuclear energy. â€Å"Nuclear terrorism continues to be one of the most challenging threats to international security,” it said. â€Å"Defeating this threat requires strong national measures and international co-operation given its potential global, political, economic, favorable and psychological consequences. ” But it omitted a reference made in a draft communique last Thursday on the need for â€Å"concrete stairs” towards a world without nuclear weapons, AFP news agency reports.There are rate of flowly no hold fast international agreements on how to protect nuclear material stored peacefully inside its home country, says the BBCs Lucy Williamson in Seoul. An amendment seeking to do that is still unratified after sevener eld. Addressing the sum mit, Mr Obama warned there were still â€Å"too many bad actors” who were threatening to stockpile and use ”dangerous” nuclear material. â€Å"It would not take much, just a fallful or so of these materials, to kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people and thats not an exaggeration, thats the reality that we grimace,” he said. The security of the world depends on the actions that we take. ” Mr Hu called for â€Å"an international environment conducive to boosting nuclear security” to be created and Mr Lee called for concrete action to tackle a threat that posed â€Å"a grave challenge” to peace. The summit was attend by nigh 60 leaders from around the world. rise launch Meetings on Monday were overshadowed by North Koreas planned launch, scheduled to take place between 12 and 16 April. capital of North Korea says it is intended to mark the hundredth day of remembrance of the birth of North Koreas founding leader Kim Il-sung.Conti nue reading the main grade Nuclear stockpiles in numbers * Russia: 10,000 * US: 8,500 * France: 300 * China: 240 * UK: 225 * Pakistan: 90-110 * India: 80-100 * Israel: 80 * North Korea: fewer than 10 Source: conspiracy of American Scientists * Nuclear weapons: Who has what? On Tuesday, a North Korean foreign ministry spokesman said that the launch would go ahead as planned and criticised Mr Obamas stance as ”confrontational”. North Korea â€Å"will never give up the launch of a satellite for peaceful purposes”, the spokesman said in a statement in the official KCNA news agency.A KCNA report also described the ”weather satellite” Pyongyang planned to launch as useful for ”the study of weather forecast needed for agriculture and other economic fields”. Japanese Prime diplomatic minister Yoshihiko Noda, speaking at the summit, called on Pyongyang to annul the rocket launch, saying that it would violate UN Security Council resolutions. â₠¬Å"As such, the international community strongly urges North Korea to exercise restraint and cancel the launch,” he said. The resolutions were passed after a similar launch in April 2009.Japan is particularly concerned as that rocket was launched over the country three years ago. The US and Chinese presidents met on Monday on the sidelines of the summit and agreed to co-ordinate their response to any â€Å"potential aggravation” if Pyongyang went ahead with the launch. South Korea and the US say North Korea risks further sanctions and isolation if it does not cancel its plans. Seoul has also warned it will shoot down the rocket if it strays over South Korean territory. Which countries have nuclear weapons? There are an estimated 20,000 warheads in the worlds feature stockpile of nuclear weapons.Of these, almost 5,000 are considered functional and about 2,000 belonging to the US and Russia are believed to be ready for use at short notice. Although the exact number of nuclear weapons in each countrys possession is top secret, the Federation of American Scientists has made surmount estimates about the size and composition of national nuclear weapon stockpiles based on publically available information. Their sources include the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Countries and their nuclear weapons | agricultural | available and strategic weapons* | full(a) arsenal** | Source: Federation of American Scientists, as of 6 March 2012| Russia| 2,430| 10,000| US| 1,950| 8,500| France| 290| 300| China| 0| 240| UK| 160| 225| Pakistan| 0| 90-110| India| 0| 80-100| Israel| 0| 80| North Korea| 0| Fewer than 10| *Strategic weapons are intentional to come out cities, missile locations and forces headquarters as part of a strategic plan **Total arsenal inventory includes non-strategic and non-deployed weapons as well as stockpiles North Koreas missile programmeContinue reading the main story Related Stories * North Korea rocket plan condemned * N Korea agrees to nuclear freeze * North Korea country profile North Korea is believed to have more than 1,000 missiles of varying capabilities, including long-range missiles which could one day strike the US. Pyongyangs programme has progressed over the last few decades from tactical artillery rockets in the 1960s and 70s to short-range and medium-range ballistic missiles in the mid-eighties and 90s. Systems capable of greater ranges are understood to be under research and development.According to the Council on Foreign Relations, an break away(p) think-tank, some of North Koreas missiles also have the power to carry nuclear warheads. However, the country is not to that extent thought to have developed such warheads. The countrys missile programme has mainly been developed from the Scud. It first obtained tactical missiles from the Soviet colligation as early as 1969, but its first Scuds accountly came via Egypt in 1976. Egypt is believed to have supplied North Korea with missiles and designs in return for its support against Israel in the Yom Kippur state of war.By 1984, North Korea was building its own Scuds, the Hwasong-5 and Hwasong-6, as well as a medium-range missile, the Nodong. Its latest missile combines these technologies to give a long-range missile, the Taepodong. In 2006 and 2009 it test-fired a new missile called the Taepodong-2, which experts say could have a range of many thousands of graybacks. The missile failed to perform on both occasions. Short range missiles North Korea is believed to be in possession of a variety of short-range missiles, such as the KN-02, which can reach up to 120km and could rate military installations in neighbouring South Korea.The Hwasong-5 and Hwasong-6, also know as Scud-B and C, have longer ranges of 300km and 500km respectively, gibe to the US Center for nonproliferation Studies. These missiles can deliver ceremonious warheads, but may also have biologica l, chemic and nuclear capabilities. The Hwasong-5 and 6 have both been time- well-tried and deployed, defence experts believe, and would enable North Korea to strike any area in South Korea. Relations between the two Koreas are fraught and they remain, technically, in a state of war. The two countries never signed a peace accord after an armistice ended their 1950-53 affair.They are separated by one of the worlds most heavily fortified borders and both have strong military capabilities. Nodong missile North Korea went on to infix on a programme in the late 1980s to build a new missile, cognise as the Nodong, with a range of 1,000km. Its likely target is Japan. But, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, lilliputian is actually know about the development, production, and deployment of the Nodong. The institute believes the weapon is not accurate enough for effective use against military targets, such as US military bases in Japan.A March 2006 report by the US Center for Non-proliferation Studies, concluded it had a â€Å" government note error probable” of 2km to 4km, meaning that half the missiles fired would fall outside a circle of that radius. Analysts thence believe that should the Nodong be used as a weapon against Japan, it could lead to high levels of civilian casualties. Musudan missile The Musudan, also known as the Nodong-B or the Taepodong-X, is an intermediate-range ballistic missile. Its likely targets are Okinawa, Japan, and US bases in the Pacific.Range estimates differ dramatically. Israeli intelligence believes they have a 2,500km range while the US Missile Defense Agency estimates they have a range of 3,200km; other sources put the upper limit at 4,000km. These differences are due in vast part to the fact that the missile has never been time-tested publicly, according to the Center for Nonproliferation Studies. Its payload is also unknown. Taepodong-1 and 2 missiles (including the Unha space launcher) The Taepodong-1 †known as Paektusan-1 in North Korea †was the countrys first multi- defend missile.Based on satellite photographs, independent think-tank the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) believes the first stage is a Nodong missile and the second stage a Hwasong-6. Continue reading the main story Missile ranges * Short range: 1,000km or less(prenominal) * Medium range: 1,000-3,000km * Intermediate range: 3,000-5,500 km * Intercontinental: Greater than 5,500km Source: Federation of American Scientists It has an estimated range of 2,200km, but is understood to be even less accurate than the Nodong. The Taepodong-1 is understood to have test flown once in fantastic 1998 as a space launcher.Instead of a normal ballistic missile payload, the missile carried a third stage that was meant to send a bantam satellite into low creation orbit. The FAS believes that although the first two stages worked, the third stage did not function correctly and no satellite entered orbit. The federation also says it is possible the Taepodong-1 was always meant as a space launcher and was never intended to be an intermediate range military missile. The Taepodong-2 †or Paektusan-2 †is also a two to three-stage ballistic missile, but is a significant advance on the Taepodong-1. Its range has been estimated at anything between 5,000-15,000km.The Center for Nonproliferation Studies puts the type at a maximum estimated 6,000km. Taepodong-2 and its technology has been flight tested twice †in 2006 and 2009. It failed to perform on both occasions. In the early morning of 5 July 2006 (still 4 July in the US), it flew only 42 seconds before exploding †according to US sources. A three-stage space launcher version of the Taepodong-2 was then used in a failed endeavor to send a satellite into space in April 2009. The launch was widely condemned by the US and South Korea, among others, as cover for a long-range missile test.North Korea refers to the spa ce launcher version of the Taepodong-2 as Unha †Korean for galaxy †and describes it as a â€Å"carrier rocket”. Although space launches and missile launches follow slightly different trajectories and the rocket may be optimised for one purpose or the other, the basic technology used is the equivalent. This includes the structure, engines, and supply. If the Taepodong-2 were successfully launched and it reached its maximum estimated range, its increased power could put Australia and parts of the US, among other countries, within range. North Korea profile * Overview * Facts * leading * Media Timeline For decades North Korea has been one of the worlds most secretive societies. It is one of the few countries still under nominally communist rule. North Koreas nuclear ambitions have exacerbated its rigidly retained isolation from the rest of the world. The country emerged in 1948 amid the chaos following the end of World War II. Its business relationship is domin ated by its Great Leader, Kim Il-sung, who shaped political affairs for almost half a century. afterwards the Korean War, Kim Il-sung introduced the personal philosophy of Juche, or self-reliance, which became a guiding light for North Koreas development.Kim Il-sung died in 1994, but the post of president has been assigned â€Å"eternally” to him. Continue reading the main story At a glance * Politics: A family dynasty heads a secretive, communist politics which tolerates no dissent * Economy: North Koreas command economy is dilapidated, hit by vivid disasters, poor preparation and a failure to get * International: The armistice of 1953 ended armed conflict on the Korean peninsular, but the two Koreas are technically still at war; tensions have been exacerbated in recent decades by North Koreas nuclear ambitions Country profiles compiled by BBC MonitoringDecades of this rigid state-controlled system have led to stagnation and a leadership dependent on the cult of personal ity. Aid agencies have estimated that up to two million people have died since the mid-mid-nineties because of acute food shortages caused by natural disasters and economic mismanagement. The country relies on foreign aid to move millions of its people. The totalitarian state also stands accused of organized human rights abuses. Reports of torture, public executions, slave labour, and forced abortions and infanticides in prison camps have emerged.A US-based rights group has estimated that there are up to 200,000 political prisoners in North Korea. Pyongyang has accused successive South Korean governments of being US â€Å"puppets”, but South Korean President Kim Dae-jungs visit in 2000 signalled a thaw in relations. Seouls â€Å"sunshine policy” towards the North aimed to encourage modify through dialogue and aid. Nuclear tensions This tentative reaching-out to the world was dealt a blow in 2002 by Pyongyangs ending to reactivate a nuclear reactor and to drum out international inspectors.In October 2006 North Korea said it had successfully tested a nuclear weapon, spreading alarm passim the region. Since then, intensive diplomatic efforts have aimed to rein in North Koreas nuclear ambitions. After years of on-and-off talks, a deal was thrashed out in February 2007 under which Pyongyang agreed to shut down its main nuclear reactor in return for aid and diplomatic concessions. But negotiations stalled as North Korea accused its negotiating partners †the US, South Korea, Japan, China and Russia †of failing to meet agreed obligations.North Korean soldiers nourish watch over the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Tensions between North Korea and the rest of the world increased steadily again from late 2008 onwards, especially after the new South Korean president, Lee Myung-bak, ended his predecessors â€Å"sunshine policy” of rapprochement with the North. In April 2009 North Korea walked out of international talks aimed at ending its nuclear activities. The following month the country carried out its second underground nuclear test and announced that it no longer considered itself jump off by the terms of the 1953 truce that ended the war between the two Koreas.Tensions reached a new high in spring 2010, when the South accused North Korea of sinking one of its warships, the Cheonan, and cut off all cross-border trade. Pyongyang denied the claims, and in turn severed all ties with Seoul. After the US imposed tough sanctions in August, the North began to make overtures again. Its then leader, Kim Jong-il, signalled a planning to resume six-party nuclear talks during a visit to China, and indicated a willingness to accept Southern aid to cope with major flood damage.Kim Jong-ils successor in December 2011, his third son Kim Jong-un, continued the dynastic policy of sending out mixed signals. He agreed to bar long-range missile tests in order to receive US food aid in February 2012, only to challeng e the US and the other frontline states almost immediately by announcing a forthcoming â€Å"rocket-launched satellite” for April, to mark Kim Il-Sungs birthday. In October 2012, Pyongyang responded to the unveiling of a new missile deal between Seoul and Washington by saying that it had missiles capable of striking the US mainland.North Korea maintains one of the worlds largest standing armies and militarism pervades everyday life. But standards of training, discipline and equipment in the force are reported to be low. Q&A: North Korea nuclear programme Negotiations over North Koreas nuclear programme have been a stop-start process North Koreas nuclear programme form a source of abstruse concern for the international community, amid reports from South Korea suggesting Pyongyang is planning a third nuclear test. The BBC looks at North Koreas nuclear ambitions and multi-national efforts to curtail them.Has North Korea got the bomb? not yet. In 2006 and again in 2009 Nor th Korea announced that it had apportioned successful nuclear weapons tests. Satellite data from Punggye-yok, in a remote area in the east of the country, appeared to tally with claims that the experiments had been conducted underground. The North is believed to possess enough weapons-grade plutonium for at least six bombs †but experts say it has not yet solved the problem of making a nuclear warhead small enough to fit into a missile. Opinions vary on how close the politics is to completing this process of â€Å" miniaturization”.American expert Siegfried Hecker told South Koreas Yonhap news agency late last year that a third nuclear test could be sufficient for them to master the technology. Mr Hecker is one of the few people to have seen the Norths capabilities first-hand. In 2010, he was shown a uranium-enrichment facility with 1,000 centrifuges and said he was â€Å" knocked out(p)” by the sophistication of the plant. He said he saw no evidence that the fu el was for anything other than generating power, but added that it could be â€Å"readily converted to start highly enriched uranium bomb fuel”. What does the regime say about its programme?Over the years Pyongyang has issued brash, contradictory and often inflammatory statements about its programme. After the 2009 nuclear test, an official communique state that the test was â€Å"part of measures to enhance the Republics self-defensive nuclear disablement in all directions”. And in a sublime unguarded moment after the 2006 test, deputy foreign minister Kang Sok-ju told reporters: â€Å"Why would we abandon nuclear weapons? Are you saying we conducted a nuclear test in order to abandon them? ” Yet Pyongyang also regularly proclaims that it is committed to a nuclear-free Korean peninsula.It has oft promised to give up part or all of its programme in return for aid. In February 2012, the regime promised to allow UN inspectors back into the country and to susp end uranium enrichment in return for US food aid. But shortly after that it launched a rocket in apparent defiance of UN resolutions banning missile tests, go away that deal dead in the pee. What has the international community done about the programme? Multiple rounds of negotiations have taken place between the North, the US, Russia, China, Japan and South Korea aimed at persuading Pyongyang to give up its nuclear ambitions.In September 2005, after more than two years of on-off talks, North Korea agreed a landmark deal to give up its nuclear ambitions in return for economic aid and political concessions. But implementing the deal proved extremely difficult and the talks stalled in April 2009 over the issue of whether North Korea was fully disclosing its nuclear assets. In July 2011, contact began again between the US and North Korea aimed at restarting the talks. Less than six months later, North Koreas long-time leader Kim Jong-il died. He was succeeded by his son, the young an d unskilled Kim Jong-un.In February 2012 North Korea suddenly announced it had agreed to suspend nuclear activities. It also said it was placing a moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests. Its reward would be food aid from the US. But that deal has now been suspend following Pyongyangs 13 April 2012 rocket launch. What is the current state of the Norths programme? The Yongbyon turn up is thought to be North Koreas main nuclear facility. The North has pledged some(prenominal) times to halt operations there and even destroyed the tower in 2008.But both the US and South Korea have said in the past that they believed the North had additional sites linked to a uranium-enrichment programme. And Mr Heckers revelations in 2010 of a hitherto undeclared plant suggest that clandestine nuclear work is continuing. In December 2010, US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said that the work being done at the site shown to Mr Hecker could not have been achieved if other related s ites did not already exist. â€Å"Were very conscious of the fact that, in the recent revelations to American delegations, what they saw did not come out of thin air,” he said. It certainly reflects work being done at at least one other site. ” Why does the issue of North Koreas nuclear capability matter so much? The two Koreas remain technically at war, since no peace treaty was signed after the 1950-53 Korean conflict. Tension has been high since an international panel blamed North Korea for sinking a South Korean navy warship in March 2010, with the dismissal of 46 lives. Ties were further strained in November 2010, when North Korea shelled a border island, killing four South Koreans.North Korea has a million-strong army and its border with the South is one of the most militarised in the world. Pyongyangs nuclear tests have sparked debate in Japan on allowing its military the option to launch a pre-emptive strike if it fears a missile attack. A fully nuclear North Korea could trigger an East Asian arms race, as Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, for instance, consider whether to go nuclear as well. North Korea claims nuclear plant progress Pyongyang says it has made rapid advances in building a light-water reactor and enriching uranium * Share 45 * * * inShare10 Email * Associated Press in Seoul * guardian. co. uk, Wednesday 30 November 2011 07. 38 GMT Pyongyang says it is making rapid progress on work to enrich uranium and build a light-water nuclear power plant connection to this video North Korea says it is making rapid progress on work to enrich uranium and build a light-water nuclear power plant, increasing worries that the country is developing another way to make atomic weapons. Pyongyangs foreign ministry said in a statement that the construction of an experimental light-water reactor and low enriched uranium were â€Å"progressing apace”.It added that North Korea had a sovereign right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy and that â€Å" uncomplete concession nor compromise should be allowed”. Concerns about North Koreas atomic capability took on renewed requirement in November 2010 when the country disclosed a uranium enrichment facility that could give it a second channel to manufacture nuclear weapons, in addition to its exist plutonium-based programme. North Korea has been building a light-water reactor at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex since last year. such a reactor is ostensibly for civilian energy purposes, but it would give the North a contend to enrich uranium.At low levels, uranium can be used in power reactors, but at higher levels it can be used in nuclear bombs. Earlier this month, North Korean state media said â€Å"the day is near at hand” when the reactor will come into operation. Washington has concerns about reported progress on the reactor construction, saying it would violate UN security council resolutions. The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, speaking to re porters on Wednesday at an international aid assemblage in the South Korean port city of Busan, did not address the Norths statement on uranium.She called the US-South Korean alliance strong and mentioned the recent first anniversary of North Koreas artillery attack on a frontline South Korean island that killed four. â€Å"Let me reaffirm that the get together States stands with our ally, and we look to North Korea to take concrete steps that promote peace and stability and denuclearisation,” Clinton said. Five countries, including the US, have been in on-again, off-again talks with North Korea to provide Pyongyang with aid in exchange for disarmament. North Korea pulled out of nuclear disarmament talks in early 2009 in protest at international nemesis of ts prohibited long-range rocket test. In recent months North Korea has repeatedly expressed its willingness to rejoin the talks, and tensions between the Koreas have eased. Diplomats from the Koreas and the UShave had se parate nuclear talks, and cultural and religious visits by South Koreans to the North have resumed. South Korean and US officials, however, have demanded that Pyongyang halt its uranium-enrichment programme, freeze nuclear and missile tests and allow international inspectors back into the country before resuming negotiations.The North Korean statement on Wednesday accused the U S and its allies of â€Å"groundlessly” taking issue with the Norths peaceful nuclear activities. They are â€Å"deliberately laying a stumbling block in the way of settling the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula through dialogue and negotiations”, the statement said. Kim Yong-hyun, a professor at Dongguk University in Seoul, said the Norths statement appeared aimed at applying pressure on Washington and the international community to rejoin the nuclear disarmament talks quickly. â€Å"North Korea is expected to step up its rhetoric,” he said.History of Nuclear proliferation The impetu s behind the NPT was concern for the safety of a world with many nuclear weapon states. It was recognized that the cold war arrest relationship between just the unite States and Soviet coupler was fragile. Having more nuclear nuclear-weapon states would reduce security for all, multiplying the risks of miscalculation, accidents, unauthorized use of weapons, or from escalation in tensions, nuclear conflict. The NPT process was launched by Frank Aiken, Irish Minister for External Affairs, in 1958.It was opened for signature in 1968, with Finland the first State to sign. Accession became nearly worldwide after the end of the Cold War and of South African byheid. In 1992 China and France acceded to the NPT, the last of the five nuclear powers recognized by the treaty to do so. In 1995 the treaty was extended indefinitely. After brazil acceded to the NPT in 1998 the only remaining non-nuclear-weapons state which had not signed was Cuba, which coupled NPT (and the Treaty of Tlatelol co NWFZ) in 2002. several(prenominal) NPT signatories have given up nuclear weapons or nuclear weapons programs.South Africa undertook a nuclear weapons program, allegedly with the assistance of Israel in the 1970s, and may have conducted a nuclear test in the Indian Ocean in 1979, but has since renounced its nuclear program and signed the treaty in 1991 after destroying its small nuclear arsenal; after this, the remaining African countries signed the treaty. several(prenominal) former Soviet Republics, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan, destroyed or transferred to Russia the nuclear weapons they inherited from the Soviet conjunction.The former Soviet republics joined NPT by 1994. Successor states from the breakups of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia also joined the treaty soon after their independence. Montenegro and East Timor were the last countries to sign the treaty on their independence in 2006 and 2003; the only other country to sign in the twenty-first century was Cuba in 2002. The three Micronesian countries in extort of Free Association with the the States joined NPT in 1995, along with Vanuatu. Major South American countries Argentina, Chile, and brazil joined in 1995 and 1998.Arabian Peninsula countries included Saudi Arabia and Bahrain in 1988, Qatar and Kuwait in 1989, UAE in 1995, and Oman in 1997. The flyspeck European states of Monaco and Andorra joined in 1995-6. Also sign in the 1990s were Myanmar in 1992 and Guyana in 1993. jut out also: North Korea and weapons of mass destruction, 2006 North Korean nuclear test, and Six-party talks North Korea ratified the treaty on December 12, 1985, but gave notice of insulation from the treaty on January 10, 2003 following U. S. allegations that it had started an illegal enriched uranium weapons program, and the U.S. subsequently stopping fuel oil shipments under the Agreed Framework[52] which had resolved plutonium weapons issues in 1994. [53] The insularity became effective April 10, 2003 making North Korea the first state ever to withdraw from the treaty. [54] North Korea had once before announced withdrawal, on March 12, 1993, but suspended that notice before it came into effect. [55] On February 10, 2005, North Korea publicly declared that it possessed nuclear weapons and pulled out of the six-party talks hosted by China to find a diplomatic solution to the issue. We had already taken the resolute action of pulling out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and have manufactured nuclear arms for self-protection to cope with the Bush administrations evermore undisguised policy to isolate and stifle the DPRK [Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea],” a North Korean Foreign Ministry statement said regarding the issue. [56] Six-party talks resumed in July 2005. On September 19, 2005, North Korea announced that it would agree to a preliminary accord. Under the accord, North Korea would scrap all of its existing nuclear weapons and nuclear production facilities, rejoin the NPT, and readmit IAEA inspectors.The difficult issue of the supply of light water reactors to replace North Koreas indigenous nuclear power plant program, as per the 1994 Agreed Framework, was left to be resolved in future discussions. [57] On the next day North Korea reiterated its known view that until it is supplied with a light water reactor it will not dismantle its nuclear arsenal or rejoin the NPT. [58] On October 2, 2006, the North Korean foreign minister announced that his country was planning to conduct a nuclear test â€Å"in the future”, although it did not state when. 59] On Monday, October 9, 2006 at 01:35:28 (UTC) the unify States geologic Survey detected a magnitude 4. 3 seismic event 70 km (43 mi) north of Kimchaek, North Korea indicating a nuclear test. [60] The North Korean government announced shortly afterward that they had immaculate a successful underground test of a nuclear fission device. In 2007, reports from Washington suggested that the 2002 CIA reports stating that North Korea was developing an enriched uranium weapons program, which led to North Korea going away the NPT, had overstated or misread the intelligence. 61][62][63][64] On the other hand, even apart from these press allegationsâ€which some critics have-to doe with could have been planted in order to resign the United States giving up trying to asseverate the dismantlement of Pyongyangs uranium program in the face of North Korean intransigenceâ€there remains some information in the public drop off indicating the organism of a uranium effort. Quite apart from the fact that North Korean First unrighteousness Minister Kang Sok Ju at one point admitted the existence of a uranium enrichment program, Pakistans then-President Musharraf revealed that the A.Q. Khan proliferation network had provided North Korea with a number of gas centrifuges designed for uranium enrichment. Additionally, press reports have cited U. S. officials to the effect that ev idence obtained in dismantling Libya’s WMD programs points toward North Korea as the source for Libyas uranium hexafluoride (UF6) — which, if true, would mean that North Korea has a uranium conversion facility for producing feedstock for centrifuge enrichment. [65] The recital of nuclear weapons chronicles the development of nuclear weapons.Nuclear weapons possess frightful destructive potential derived from nuclear fission or nuclear unification reactions. Starting with scientific breakthroughs of the thirty-something made by the United States, Canada and the United country during World War II in what was called the Manhattan construe to counter the mistaken Nazi German atomic bomb project. In August 1945 two were dropped on Japan ending the Pacific War. An international aggroup was dispatched to help work on the project.The Soviet sum of money started development shortly thereafter with their own atomic bomb project, and not long after that both countries dev eloped even more powerful fusion weapons called â€Å"hydrogen bombs. ” There have been (at least) four major false alarms, the most recent in 1995, that resulted in the activation of either the USs or Russias nuclear attack early warning protocols. [1] North Korea Main oblige: Ryanggang explosion On September 9, 2004 it was reported by South Korean media that there had been a large explosion at the Chinese/North Korean border.This explosion left a crater ocular by satellite and precipitated a large (2 mile diameter) mushroom cloud. The United States and South Korea quickly downplayed this, explaining it away as a forest fire that had zero to do with the DPRKs nuclear weapons program. List of most powerful nuclear tests The following incomplete list contains nuclear tests conducted with a yield of over 10 Mt TNT. Date| Yield| Test mode| Country| Test Site| Remarks| October 30, 1961| 50 Mt| drop off| Soviet center| Novaya Zemlya| Tsar Bomba| December 24, 1962| 24. Mt| dr op| Soviet Union| Novaya Zemlya| Test 219| August 5, 1961| 21. 1 Mt| air-drop| Soviet Union| Novaya Zemlya| | September 25, 1962| 19. 1 Mt| air-drop| Soviet Union| Novaya Zemlya| | February 28, 1954| 15 Mt| ground| USA| bikini Atoll| citadel Bravo| May 5, 1954| 13. 5 Mt| sea surface| USA| Bikini Atoll| Castle Yankee| October 23, 1961| 12. 5 Mt| air-drop| Soviet Union| Novaya Zemlya| | March 26, 1954| 11 Mt| sea surface| USA| Bikini Atoll| Castle Romeo| November 1, 1952| 10. 4 Mt| ground| USA| Eniwetok| ivy Mike| September 27, 1962| 10 Mt| air-drop| SovietUnion| Novaya Zemlya| | Background Korea has been a divided country since 1945, when it was liberate from the defeated Japan after World War II. The Korean War was fought from June 25, 1950, until an Armistice obligation was signed on July 27, 1953. As part of the Armistice, both sides, including U. S. forces, conduct military patrols within the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). [citation needed] In September 1956 the U. S. Chair man of the Joint Chiefs of Staff admiral Radford told the U. S. Department of State that the U. S. ilitary intention was to introduce atomic weapons into Korea. From January 1957 the U. S. National Security Council considered, on President Eisenhowers instruction, and then agreed this. However, dissever 13(d) of the Korean Armistice Agreement mandated that both sides should not introduce new types of weapons into Korea, so preventing the introduction of nuclear weapons and missiles. The U. S. decided to unilaterally exterminate paragraph 13(d), breaking the Armistice Agreement, notwithstanding concerns by United Nations allies. 8][9] At a June 21, 1957, meeting of the Military Armistice Commission the U. S. informed the North Korean representatives that the U. N. Command no longer considered itself bound by paragraph 13(d) of the armistice. [10] In August 1957 NSC 5702/2[11] permitting the deployment of nuclear weapons in Korea was approved. [8] In January 1958 nuclear armed Hone st washbowl missiles and 280mm atomic cannons were deployed to South Korea,[12] a year later adding nuclear armed Matador cruise missiles with the range to reach China and the Soviet Union. 8][13] North Korea denounced the abrogation of paragraph 13(d) as an attempt to wreck the armistice agreement and turn Korea into a U. S. atomic warfare zone. At the U. N. General Assembly in November 1957 the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia condemned the decision of the United Nations Command to introduce nuclear weapons into Korea. [9] North Korea responded militarily by digging vast underground fortifications resistant to nuclear attack, and forward deployment of its formal forces so that the use of nuclear weapons against it would endanger South Korean and U.S. forces as well. In 1963 North Korea asked the Soviet Union for help in developing nuclear weapons, but was refused. However, instead the Soviet Union agreed to help North Korea develop a peaceful nuclear energy program, including th e training of nuclear scientists. China later, after its nuclear tests, similarly rejected North Korean requests for help with developing nuclear weapons. [8] Tensions between North and South have run high on numerous occasions since 1953. The deployment of the U. S.Armys Second human foot Division on the Korean peninsula and the American military presence at the DMZ are publicly regarded by North Korea as an occupying army. In several areas, North Korean and American/South Korean forces operate in extreme proximity to the border, adding to tension. This tension has led to numerous clashes, including the Axe Murder calamity of 1976. In the early 1960s security concerns in the region and an apparent Soviet dismissal of these concerns hastened the DPRKs efforts to get a line the technology to produce nuclear weapons.In the wake of the student-led April 19 movement in 1960 that overthrew the South Korean president Rhee Syngman and the May 16, 1961, military coup detat that brought G eneral special K Chung-hee to power in the south, North Korea want a mutual defense treaty with the Soviet Union and China. Soviet leaders reportedly did not even consider such a accordance necessary, despite the military posture of the anti-communist Park regime, as long as the Soviets improved relations with the United States. 14] perhaps the two most important factors in North Koreas attempts to obtain nuclear weapons and become militarily self-directed were the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 and the prospect of a USâ€Japanâ€ROK alliance following the 1965 establishment of diplomatic relations between the ROK and Japan. Kim Il-sung reportedly did not trust that the Soviets would live up to the conditions of the mutual defense pact and guarantee North Koreas security since they betrayed Castro by withdrawing nuclear missiles in an effort to improve relations with the United States.As a North Korean official explained to Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin in 1965, †Å"the Korean leaders were untrusting of the CPSU and the Soviet government, they could not count on that the Soviet government would keep the obligations related to the defense of Korea it assumed in the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, Kim Il-sung said, and therefore they were compelled to keep an army of 700,000 and a police force of 200,000. In explaining the cause of such mistrust, the official claimed that â€Å"the Soviet Union had betrayed Cuba at the time of the Caribbean crisis. â€Å"[15] However, as recently free Russian, Hungarian, and East German materials confirm, no communist governments were willing to share the technology with the North Koreans, out of fear that they would share the technology with China. [16] With the collapse of the Soviet Union, North Korean leaders recognized the need for a new security relationship with a major power since Pyongyang could not afford to maintain its military posture.North Korean leaders therefore soug ht to forge a new relationship with the United States, the only power strong enough to step into the vacuum left by the collapse of the Soviet Union. From the early 1990s, throughout the first nuclear crisis, North Korea sought a non-aggression pact with the United States. The U. S. rejected North Korean calls for bilateral talks concerning a non-aggression pact, and stated that only six-party talks that also include the Peoples Republic of China, Russia, Japan, and South Korea are acceptable.The American stance was that North Korea had violated prior bilateral agreements, then such forums lacked accountability. Conversely, North Korea refused to speak in the mount of six-party talks, stating that it would only accept bilateral talks with the United States. This led to a diplomatic stalemate. On October 9, 2006, the North Korean government issued an announcement that it had successfully conducted a nuclear test for the first time. Both the United States Geological Survey and Japan ese seismological authorities detected an earthquake with a preliminary estimated magnitude of 4. in North Korea, corroborating some aspects of the North Korean claims. [4] On November 19, 2006, North Koreas Minju Joson newspaper accused South Korea of building up arms in order to attack the country, claiming that â€Å"the South Korean military is openly clamoring that the development and introduction of new weapons are to target the North. ” North Korea accused South Korea of conspiring with the United States to attack it, an accusation made frequently by the North and routinely denied by the United States. 17] The United Nations Security Council condemned the test in Resolution 1874. On May 25, 2009, North Korea conducted a second test of a nuclear weapon at the same location as the original test (not confirmed). The test weapon was of the same magnitude as the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in the 2nd World War, (confirmed South Korea and Russia). At the same time of the t est North Korea tested two short range missiles (reported a South Korean News meshwork YTN †not officially confirmed). In July 2011, Abdul Qadeer Khan, the key figure in Pakistans nuclear weapons evelopment, allegedly claimed that North Korea had gained gateway to Pakistans nuclear technology in the late 1990s by paying bribes to Pakistans senior military officials, a claim Pakistans senior officials disputed. Khan stated that he had personally helped transfer $3 million in gratuities to senior Pakistans military officers, though he uncomplete provided any proofs to his claims. [18] Chronology of events Main article: Timeline of North Korea nuclear program [edit] Plutonium | This section needs additional citations for verification. (October 2009)| MWe experimental reactor at Yongbyon Nuclear scientific Research Center North Korea has had two operating(a) reactors, both located at the Yongbyon Nuclear scientific Research Center. The older reactor is a Russian supplied IRT-200 0 research reactor completed in 1967. [19] uracil irradiated in this reactor was used in North Koreas first plutonium separation experiments in 1975. [20] Nevertheless, the elemental purpose of the reactor is not to produce plutonium and North Korea has had trouble acquiring enough fuel for constant operation. The U. S.Department of Energy estimated that this reactor could have been used to produce up to 1â€2 kg of plutonium, thoug\r\n'