Source: Carnegie

Summary
The nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula continues to pose the most serious security threat to U.S. interests and friends in East Asia. North Korea's nuclear activities include both an active plutonium production capability and a still-under-construction uranium enrichment capability. This program presents a critical security challenge for the United States, countries in East Asia, and, through North Korea's potential to sell nuclear materials abroad, the entire world. All of the states engaged with North Korea agree that the goal of international efforts should be the complete elimination of North Korea's nuclear program and the firm establishment of a non-nuclear Korean peninsula.

The papers included in this report are meant to spur discussion and exploration of these complex issues, and give support to efforts to negotiate an agreement that ends the potential for North Korea to directly threaten the security of its neighbors and other countries.

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About the Authors
Seongwhun Cheon is senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU) in Seoul. Before joining KINU in 1991, he served with the Office of Arms Control, Ministry of National Defense, Republic of Korea. He is the author of numberous books including U.S. NCM Initiatives and Security of the Korean Peninsula (Seoul, KINU, 2001).

Fred McGoldrick is principle in the international consulting firm of Bengeslsdorf, McGoldrick and Associates, LLC. He has held senior positions in the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of State, where he negotiated U.S. peaceful nuclear cooperation agreements and helped shape U.S. policy to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.

Jon B. Wolfsthal is deputy director and associate of the Carnegie Endowment's Non-Proliferation Project. Prior to joining the Endowment, he held a number of positions at the U.S. Department of Energy, including service as the U.S. government's on-site monitor at North Korea's nuclear complex at Yongyon. He is the co-author of Deadly Arsenals: Tracking Weapons of Mass Destruction (Carnegie Endowment, 2002).

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