II. North Korean–United States nuclear diplomacy

Chapter:

11. Nuclear disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation

Source:

SIPRI Yearbook 2020

Author(s):

Tytti Erästö, Shannon N. Kile, Petr Topychkanov

In 2019 tensions persisted between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, or North Korea) and the United States over the former’s ongoing programmes to develop nuclear weapons and ballistic missile delivery systems. North Korea had dismantled its nuclear test site at Pyunggye-ri in 2018 and it continued to adhere to the moratorium on the testing of nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missiles declared by its supreme leader, Kim Jong Un, in April 2018.¹ However, during 2019 North Korea conducted multiple flight tests of short-range ballistic missiles in contravention of a United Nations Security Council resolution demanding that it halt all missile tests.² At the same time, North Korea and the USA remained locked in a diplomatic stalemate over their political commitments made the previous year to work towards establishing peaceful relations and achieving the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. The impasse coincided with the breakdown of peace and reconciliation efforts between North Korea and the Republic of Korea (South Korea) initiated in 2018.³