By Francisco Galamas
Can the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference help prevent future crises from escalating?
Since its ratification in 1970, the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) has become one of the main pillars of the nuclear nonproliferation mechanisms. In 2015, state parties to the NPT gather in a Review Conference (RevCon) to ensure that both the NPT provisions and the major nuclear proliferation challenges are being properly addressed. Given that seven of the world’s nine nuclear powers are in Asia, it is important to understand the main nuclear proliferation challenges that this continent presents to the 2015 RevCon.
Some of the unavoidable topics surrounding this diplomatic assembly will be the ongoing disputes involving nuclear programs in two countries: Iran and North Korea. Pyongyang acceded to the NPT in 1985, but in 2003, after dismissing the Agreed Framework, it withdrew and resumed its nuclear program. Twelve years, numerous ballistic missile tests, and three nuclear tests later, we are likely to witness a 2015 RevCon making renewed calls for Pyongyang to halt all nuclear and ballistic missile activities.
While such calls are hardly unprecedented, it is important for parties to the NPT to understand that the more evolved the North Korean nuclear and ballistic missile program gets, the more difficult the negotiations become and the less credible the nuclear nonproliferation mechanisms look to the international community. One way to overcome the current impasse could involve the restart of the Six-Party Talks with more flexible preconditions that do not require the complete dismantlement of North Korea’s nuclear infrastructure. It may not be a complete solution, it is certainly better than dealing with a North Korea steadily moving forward on its nuclear weapons program.
Read the full story at The Diplomat