Watch: How North Korea’s aggressive nuclear programme has put the world on edge
A brief history of the country’s rising nuclear ambition and how it impacts us all.
The message from North Korea to the world was loud and clear after the regime under Kim Jong-Un tested nuclear explosive devices twice in 2016. With its steadily rising nuclear ambitions, many countries are feeling seriously threatened. North Korea has conducted nuclear tests earlier, in 2006, 2009 and 2013.
And now, the danger of a nuclear strike looms larger than ever. “I can assure you that my government takes...the threat of North Korea very seriously,” stated Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull.
“There is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea. Absolutely,” US President Donald Trump told Reuters in an Oval Office interview recently.
The video above is a journey through the communist regime’s nuclear programme to show how even regular interventions by other governments and the Security Council have failed to rein in its dangerous agenda.
North Korea had kick-started its nuclear research in the 1950s with the help of the former Soviet Union. In 1993, two years after the end of the Cold War, the country withdrew from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), an international pact that aimed to foster peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
Since then, diplomatic ties between North Korea, the US and its neighbouring countries have deteriorated, leading up to the hostility that prevails today.