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The USA tried to give flawed nuclear bomb plans to Iran in a bid to slow down their nuclear weapons program, but it backfired and Iran was informed that the pla
by cjslep 7y ago
The USA tried to give flawed nuclear bomb plans to Iran in a bid to slow down their nuclear weapons program, but it backfired and Iran was informed that the plan had purposeful flaws. It is debatable whether it wound up accelerating the Iranian nuclear program.
Also, the threat of the nuclear bomb is what finally led to the ceasefire in the Korean War. Both North Korea and the USA came in thinking they were the "victors" and that the other side needed to sue for peace. Truman didn't want to threaten the use of the nuclear bomb, having been the one to drop two on Japan. When Eisenhower assumed Presidency, he threatened the use of nuclear weapons, bullying North Korea in the process. Hence, the regime became obsessed with obtaining one so that it could never be bullied again. It viewed it as the prime ticket to true independence/security.
So the USA shot itself in the foot twice when it comes to "modern nations obsessed with nuclear weapons programs that are not friendly to the USA".
- khuey 7y agoThe North Koreans didn't become obsessed with getting nukes in 1953.
- Mirioron 7y ago>It viewed it as the prime ticket to true independence/security. It's true though. Nuclear weapons with delivery mechanisms are about the only thing in the modern world which will make others back off. In every other case you're relying on the good graces of others.
- SiempreViernes 7y agoNorth Korea managed to survive up until 2006 without nukes, so obviously there are other means. At the same time, there are plenty of military planners that don't view nukes as a definitive reason not to pick a fight considering the large amounts of effort they put into planning a nuclear war.
- dsfyu404ed 7y agoNot every nation can be "lucky" and have a city of several million people located in a nation that few other nations hate yet still conveniently within artillery range.
- exhilaration 7y agoFrom what I've read, it was Gaddafi's death in 2011 (after he gave up his very limited nuclear weapons program) that made the North Korean regime realize it absolutely needed a nuclear deterrent.
- SiempreViernes 7y agoThe Libya adventure probably served to settle any debate within North Korea, but their program is much older and they have shown serious committent to it much earlier than 2011. In 1994 it was discovered they had reprocessed plutonium several times in the 80's, and it was suspected they had secret reprocessing facilities, and they almost left the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons treaty to keep inspectors out of those sites. In 2006 they tested a nuclear device for the first time, although it likely failed. https://www.nti.org/learn/countries/north-korea/nuclear/ https://www.nti.org/learn/countries/north-korea/nuclear/