12 February 2025, NIICE Commentary 9937
Anoushka Kashyap

North Korea or the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is a small nation lying in the north of the Korean Peninsula. This country comes under the region of East Asia and is a ‘Communist State’, with a legacy of dictators ruling the nation with their strict laws for decades and their current leader is Kim-Jong Un. It is the most isolated nation in the world and it follows its own calendar, rules and laws. This commentary focuses briefly on the role of North Korea in spreading violence in the Korean Peninsula via its nuclear weapons to conquer South Korea (ROK) and counter its rivals in the Indo-Pacific and ends with the role of the ROK, Japan and the USA in bringing in denuclearization in the region.

DPRK’s Nuclearization Strategy and its History

North Korea came to light as a nation during the Korean War that it initiated in 1950 against South Korea and after the War, there could be seen a clear demarcation between North and South Korea due to the intervention of foreign powers like the USA and Britain. This War marks the beginning of the history of North Korea as an independent nation that is known today for its nuclear missiles and leaders. A significant outcome of the Korean War was the formation of alliances between North and South Korea. During the War, DPRK was supported by Russia and China while ROK was supported by the USA and UN Security Council. These alliances look valid today and continue to grow. DPRK and ROK were divided into separate nations after World War II when Japan surrendered during the thirty-eighth parallel.

The history of the nuclear program of DPRK goes back to the 1950s when the government introduced the Atomic Energy Research Institute (IAEA) and Academy of Sciences in 1952. But, after bilateral talks with the Soviet Union, only DPRK’s nuclear program flourished which began around the 1960s wherein there were exchanges of scientists from Korea to the USSR to understand nuclear missiles. Soviet Union played a significant role in helping DPRK establish and prosper its nuclear programs by providing economic aid, training and exchanges on a regular basis.

North Korea started testing its missiles in 2006 then in 2009, 2013, 2017 and 2025 denying all UN Security Council’s resolutions and laws and it left all treaties that ban testing nuclear missiles like NPT and CTBT. Despite the United States’ and South Korea’s collaborative joint drills to denuclearise the region, DPRK continues to spread violence and nuclearization via its nuclear program.

The main focus of DPRK is on the intercontinental ballistic missiles which range from short, medium and long-range that have a powerful impact and travel faster than the speed of light around five times. With the availability of technology like mobile phones and the internet, it has used it to make the launches of its missiles very easy.  “North Korea will continue testing a variety of missiles “to validate technical objectives, reinforce deterrence, and normalize Pyongyang’s missile testing.” ~2023 ATA

Nuclearization in the 20th Century and the USA’s Involvement

The full-scale expansion of nuclearization began initially from 1970s and onwards under Kim Il-sung as by that time DPRK had collaborated with the USSR and it had understood and developed some nuclear missiles and also had some given by the USSR. DPRK is very rich in explosives like uranium that are found naturally here which the Soviets and Chinese had explored during 1947 before the establishment of DPRK in 1948.

DPRK heavily invested in constructing Universities and laboratories during this period so that its scientists could study and experiment on missiles and explosives. During this period, it built nearly a hundred nuclear facilities in Yongbyon. Though, DPRK did join NPT (1980s) because of the USSR’s pressure but never followed the international laws laid by it and later withdrew from it. After these series of events, the USA finally decided to address the issue of rising nuclearization by DPRK along with the UNSC from 1993 and onwards.

DPRK and the USA met in Geneva in 1993 and signed a cooperative framework that froze the nuclear program in the region as an initial step to achieve denuclearization. The origins of idea of developing a nuclear program were started under Kim Il-sung’s administration because of events like the USA bombarding Japan’s Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The Trilateral USA-Japan-South Korea

If DPRK launches a missile then it is trying to prevent itself from getting attacked by the USA and its allies. The consequences of the attack by DPRK would be on the USA’s allies and hubs located in Japan and South Korea beyond the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone). The targets of DPRK could be Seoul, Busan, Yongsan Garrison, and Tokyo and the next attack will be indicated towards Hawaii, San Diego and Washington DC. The missile from DPRK will reach Japan in around ten minutes and the USA in thirty minutes according to Business Insider.

Initiatives like Six-Party Talk have been held to discuss this issue with DPRK in 2003, Yoon declared the Audacious Initiative in 2022 to help DPRK’s economy if it agrees to denuclearization andthe  “dialogue and pressure approach” of Japan. There have been many high-level visits from leaders from these nations to DPRK and agreements like the ‘Japan-North Korea Pyongyang Declaration signed at the Summit Meeting in September 2002’, DPRK promised to not spread violence in the Peninsula but the steps so far have remained unsuccessful as it still continues to develop and launch missiles.

DPRK has exclusive intercontinental ballistic missiles like the Hwasong-15 and Hwasong-16 which are capable of making interceptions hard which USA says that it can intercept missiles if launched by DPRK towards it within one minute. The trilateral between USA-Japan-South Korea has been formed due to the increasing nuclearization in the Korean Peninsula and its repercussions on the three nations and their allies. To stop the spread of nuclearization these nations pledge to make the Peninsula a ‘denuclearized zone’ and the ‘Trilateral Leaders’ Summit in 2023 is significant for the grouping.

The grouping is against DPRK and Russia as they are spreading violence in the world and disrupting the smooth flow in the Indo-Pacific Region. The most recent examples are the DPRK sending its troops to fight the War from the side of Russia in the Russia-Ukraine ongoing warfare, the DPRK giving its powerful missiles and weapons to Russia which they later launched on Ukraine and the most significant incident that took place a few days ago when DPRK launched a ballistic missile that landed in East Sea between Japan and ROK on January 6, 2025.

The grouping tends to achieve complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula with the help of the UNSC. Hence, this could be one major reason for the President of ROK, Yoon Sok Yeol to declare Martial Law in the country at midnight without prior notice stating “anti-state activities” in the nation which was later retracted.

Conclusion

The grouping is trying to convince the DPRK to return to the ‘denuclearisation talks’ until 2023. But, after the recent launch of a missile and impeachment case on the ROK President and with Donald Trump coming into office, the situation will completely change as Trump has told the ROK to fight for itself and his focus will be on the crisis in the Middle East unlike, Joe Biden.

Anoushka Kashyap is a Research Intern at NIICE. She has completed her Master’s Graduate in International Affairs from OP. Jindal Global University with interests in regions of Southeast Asia, East Asia and the Indo-Pacific.