North Korea's weapons programmes - International Institute for Strategic Studies

The current crisis over North Korea's nuclear programme poses the greatest immediate threat to East Asian security and one of the most serious long-term challenges to the viability of the international non-proliferation regime. A number of different policy options have been advanced to deal with this issue, including pre-emptive military attacks, diplomacy, containment, sanctions and regime change. North Korea's Weapons Programmes provides a balanced and objective assessment of North Korea's nuclear, biological, chemical and ballistic missile programmes. The dossier provides an historical review of North Korean programmes in each area, an assessment of current capabilities, and an evaluation of different scenarios for future developments, emphasizing the inherent uncertainties in trying to evaluate North Korea's capabilities. In addition to chapters on North Korea's nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and ballistic missile programmes, the dossier includes chapters on the history of efforts to negotiate limits on North Korea's military capabilities and on the conventional military balance on the Korean peninsula. Importantly, the IISS does not advocate any particular policy option in dealing with North Korea. The objective is to assess, as accurately and dispassionately as possible, North Korea's current military capabilities in order to foster a well-informed public debate.