After the end of the Korean War, the leader of Kim Il Sung suddenly decided to conduct nuclear research, which caused widespread confusion at the time. North Korea's domestic national strength has been seriously damaged, and the people can't even eat enough, so why spend so much effort to develop nuclear **?
Kim Il Sung did not explain much about this, but devoted himself to the research and development of nuclear **. However, North Korea's nuclear research and development has met with strong opposition from the international community.
The United States, in particular, has exerted tremendous pressure on North Korea, even listing North Korea as an "Axis" country and searching for evidence of so-called nuclear research inside North Korea. Everyone believes that under such pressure, it is absolutely impossible for North Korea to develop its own nuclear **.
However, in 2003, North Korea abruptly announced its withdrawal from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, becoming the ninth nuclear-weapon state after the P5, India, Pakistan and Israel.
What's going on here? How did North Korea succeed in becoming a nuclear power? Let's unravel this mystery together.
Why is North Korea resolutely developing nuclear weapons even in the face of an international blockade? After the end of the Korean War, the construction of North Korea was almost destroyed, and it took a lot of time for the population to return to normal life.
The natural disasters that followed made it even more difficult for the North Korean people to ensure food and clothing. However, at this critical juncture, North Korean leader Kim Il Sung made a fateful decision: North Korea must have its own nuclear **.
However, the international environment at that time was very difficult for the development of nuclear weapons. First of all, nuclear ** is huge, and having it will seriously threaten neighboring countries, and North Korea's research and development of nuclear ** will definitely be affected by neighboring countries.
Second, the United States adopted a policy of suppression against countries with nuclear weapons, and most of the US troops were still stationed in South Korea at that time, and if North Korea developed an atomic bomb, it would pose a serious threat to the United States, so the United States would definitely oppose it.
However, for Kim Il Sung, the development of the atomic bomb was already an urgent task.
The first thing he considered was how to get rid of the threat of the US military. At the beginning of the Korean War, the United States and the Soviet Union successively possessed nuclear weapons, and their powerful power triggered enthusiastic research on nuclear weapons in countries around the world.
Around the fifties of the last century, nuclear power developed rapidly, and in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the United States relied on its nuclear superiority to deter China and North Korea. In the early days of the war, the United States suffered successive defeats at the hands of the volunteers, and once thought of using nuclear weapons, and the United States even openly stated that it would consider using nuclear weapons against China in the Korean War.
Although the United States did not end up committing nuclear weapons to war, nor did it achieve its goal of nuclear threat, this war made China and North Korea realize the importance of developing nuclear weapons.
On the other hand, Kim Il Sung realized that in order to become a country with international influence, it is necessary to have strong military power, so North Korea has been trying to consolidate its power and hope to become a world-class power.
North Korea must possess nuclear weapons to defend against the threat of possible U.S. military action. According to the armistice, the United States could tear up the agreement and start a war at any time.
Moreover, South Korea's Syngman Rhee did not sign the armistice agreement, which made Kim Il Sung feel threatened at all times. In the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it took only 20 minutes to destroy all military and command equipment on the territory of the DPRK, so it was necessary to have a nuclear **.
Therefore, Kim Il Sung believes that the development of nuclear weapons has become a top priority. In the case of the DPRK's poverty and whiteness, the development of nuclear weapons requires a lot of manpower, material resources, and financial resources, and the key is technology.
However, at that time, North Korea had a problem even eating, and it was extremely difficult to train relevant scientific and technological personnel. However, it is not these problems that cause the DPRK the most headache, but the opposition and suppression of the DPRK's nuclear development by all countries in the world, especially the United States.
In December 1953, Eisenhower of the United States put forward a proposal for the "peaceful use of atomic energy" at the eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly, hoping to establish an organization to prevent other countries from developing and disseminating peaceful nuclear technology.
Subsequently, the principle of "nuclear non-proliferation" was recognized by more and more countries, and the structure of the treaty, which became the norm of international behavior, gradually became clear. Therefore, when Kim Il Sung proposed the development of nuclear weapons, he was opposed by many countries.
Fearing that the development of the atomic bomb would put military pressure on its neighbors, North Korea turned to the Soviet Union for help. Since the principles of the United States were not accepted by the USSR, the USSR quickly agreed to the demands of the DPRK.
In February 1956, the DPRK and the Soviet Union signed an agreement to join the Joint Nuclear Research Institute and cooperate closely. Despite the fact that after 1957, the United Nations proposed a "nuclear non-proliferation" convention, the Soviet Union's assistance to North Korea never stopped.
Kim Il Sung led the DPRK on the road of nuclear power: international students went to the Soviet Union to study, scientific research backbones were trained in the city of Dubna, and a nuclear talent base was set up. The United States was dissatisfied with this and criticized the Soviet Union for aiding North Korea's nuclear research.
Although the DPRK signed the "Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty" under the pressure of the United States, it has always secretly developed its nuclear research undertakings, and the United States and other countries have never grasped the handle.
Kim Il has laid a good foundation for the development of North Korea's nuclear power, and his development strategy during his administration has three characteristics.
Kim Il Sung adopted the tactics of concealment, delaying policy, and exploiting loopholes in the development of nuclear weapons. Although the outside world has been ignorant of this, the United States and other countries have accused North Korea of secretly developing nuclear weapons through satellites.
While North Korea has repeatedly denied that it has the capability and program to build nuclear weapons, and has accused the United States of baseless accusations and claimed that the U.S. military deployment in South Korea poses a threat to North Korea's security, the United States insists that North Korea has suspicious facilities in the Yongbyon area for making nuclear weapons, and says they will inspect North Korea's nuclear facilities and impose sanctions on North Korea if any anomalies are found.
In the face of the heavy-handed tactics of the United States, the DPRK repeatedly stressed that it had not conducted any nuclear research and rejected the US request on the grounds that it had violated their rights and interests when the DPRK was preparing to conduct a special inspection.
Relations between the two sides have become strained, and the DPRK has entered a quasi-wartime state and announced its withdrawal from the Convention on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. In order to ease tensions between the two countries, Carter visited the DPRK and held lengthy negotiations with Kim Il Sung, and finally the two sides reached a consensus and signed the "DPRK-US Framework Agreement".
To make matters worse, however, North Korea was in a panic when its leader, Kim Il Sung, died. The death of Kim Il Sung made the implementation of this agreement not smooth, and the relationship between the two parties became very unhappy.
After George W. Bush Jr. came to power in 2001, he relied on his superiority in national strength to implement a policy of suppression in the international community, delayed the implementation of the agreement, and arbitrarily designated the DPRK as the "first axis."
At this time, North Korea had lost the support of the Soviet Union, and Kim Chong-il took power, believing that nuclear power was one of the means of "self-preservation" of North Korea, and it was also the key to realizing the dream of becoming a world power.
Therefore, in an emergency, he made nuclear research a top policy goal, restarted the nuclear program, and actively recruited experts in nuclear research after the collapse of the Soviet Union to promote the development of nuclear research in North Korea.
However, after a visit to the DPRK in 2002, US Secretary of State Kelly again pointed out this "cliché" problem, accusing the DPRK of violating the US-DPRK Agreed Framework, and announcing the end of the supply of heavy oil to the DPRK and listing the DPRK as a nuclear target.
The DPRK did not succumb to this "threat", they firmly believe that the US approach is disrespectful to their people and **. So, in 2003, they announced their withdrawal from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and began to extract first-grade plutonium.
This makes North Korea the ninth country to possess nuclear power before 2003, which is one of the main reasons for the outbreak of the second North Korean nuclear crisis. However, despite the pressure from the United States, North Korea has not stopped its research and attempts at nuclear testing.
At the same time, some countries have chosen to establish friendly relations with the DPRK after seeing the current situation in the DPRK, and this has opened up a new situation in the DPRK's diplomacy to a certain extent.