Nuclear security

Four Ways North Korea’s Nukes Spell Trouble for the US — Even If They’re Never Used


Those who argue that North Korea’s new intercontinental nuclear capability can be managed with Cold War-style deterrence have too narrowly conceived the threat. The spectre of direct strikes notwithstanding, Pyongyang is likely to draw from a much wider nuclear playbook in attempting to improve its position vis-à-vis the United States.

One of the biggest risks is of horizontal proliferation: the risk that North Korea will export its growing pool of nuclear weapons technologies to other nuclear aspirants. The regime has a richhistory of transferring nuclear and missile technologies; past recipients include Pakistan, Iran, Syria and others. Future transfers could be as low-key as emailing plans for bomb cores, missiles, or nuclear reactors to other states, or as involved as sending ready-to-use nuclear warheads and missiles through its network of sanctions-busting trade routes. That North Korea purportedly now has the ability to develop fully functional nuclear warheads no bigger than a beach ball should make observers nervous, particularly with CIA Director Mike Pompeo recently confirming that he could “absolutely not” ensure that U.S.intelligence agencies would uncover all such trades.