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North Korea does have a nuclear weapons program that much of the rest of the world would like to hinder. What tech restrictions on North Korea make sense? I re

North Korea does have a nuclear weapons program that much of the rest of the world would like to hinder. What tech restrictions on North Korea make sense? I remember that when Fortran compilers were sold on CD-ROM that the packaging of Digital Visual Fortran said the compiler was not for resale to North Korea and maybe Iran. Now Fortran, C, and C++ compilers that would be used in modeling nuclear bombs are open source, and I don't think people in any country can be stopped from accessing them, as a practical matter.

btdmaster 5y ago
Would https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_with_nuclear_weapons#Statistics_and_force_configuration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_with_nuclear_we... suggest that, if technical restrictions are necessary for NK, they are a life-or-death situation in the case of the US and Russia? Of course, these statistics may not be entirely accurate but we are talking of a difference of 2 orders of magnitude in the number of warheads.
- thriftwy 5y ago
  Russia is bound by non-proliferation laws and accepts international observers to its nuclear objects, so no. A lot of difference between rogue nuclear state, and a member of the club.
SiempreViernes 5y ago
Since they already have working nukes and they can credibly nuke South Korea and Japan, it's not clear what the point is in trying to restrict access now. The best that can be achieved now is that they can't kill people in DC, which I'm not sure is worth so much to people in Tokyo that you can get them to sign on to your sanctions regime.
- caymanjim 5y ago
  The regime actively engages in digital espionage and criminal hacking behavior. It's a source of revenue for the government.
  - SiempreViernes 5y ago
    Sure, but unless you claim their nuclear program is mostly funded directly by the hacking this is not a particularly targeted sanction. If you insist on targeting just their general economy it's probably better to go after coal or chemicals. In any case, the OP was obviously talking about which technology should be denied for the purpose of it not being directly used to construct a bomb. To reply "we should deny them money" is quite beside the point.

btdmaster 5y ago

Would https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_with_nuclear_weapons#Statistics_and_force_configuration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_with_nuclear_we... suggest that, if technical restrictions are necessary for NK, they are a life-or-death situation in the case of the US and Russia? Of course, these statistics may not be entirely accurate but we are talking of a difference of 2 orders of magnitude in the number of warheads.

thriftwy 5y ago
Russia is bound by non-proliferation laws and accepts international observers to its nuclear objects, so no. A lot of difference between rogue nuclear state, and a member of the club.

SiempreViernes 5y ago

Since they already have working nukes and they can credibly nuke South Korea and Japan, it's not clear what the point is in trying to restrict access now. The best that can be achieved now is that they can't kill people in DC, which I'm not sure is worth so much to people in Tokyo that you can get them to sign on to your sanctions regime.

caymanjim 5y ago
The regime actively engages in digital espionage and criminal hacking behavior. It's a source of revenue for the government.
- SiempreViernes 5y ago
  Sure, but unless you claim their nuclear program is mostly funded directly by the hacking this is not a particularly targeted sanction. If you insist on targeting just their general economy it's probably better to go after coal or chemicals. In any case, the OP was obviously talking about which technology should be denied for the purpose of it not being directly used to construct a bomb. To reply "we should deny them money" is quite beside the point.