A Pakistani who helped North Korea go Nuclear.

For those of you who came here only for the Titbit, scroll down. For those of you who want to clearly understand, start from here.

Why is a small and poor country with a GDP one third of Ethiopia, pouring all its resources into the Nuclear program instead of feeding its citizens? And why does the US perceive the Hermit Kingdom as a threat?

In order to know 'Why' let's first understand the history and foreign relations of North Korea.

A brief history of the Korean kingdom:

Till the end of 19th century, Korea(United) didn’t face any foreign invasion as a result it remained isolated and hence the name Hermit kingdom.

During the late 19th century and early 20th century, when Japanese empire rose to power, it saw Korea(United) as an object of imperial design. However, its attempts to modernise Korea have failed due to the policies of Japanese empire which intended to suppress the Korean culture.

Korea remained a part of Japanese empire till the fall of latter due to WW2 1945.

Soon after the fall of Japanese empire, Korea became a point of interest for both US and USSR, which eventually led to its bifurcation along the '38th parallel north', into South Korea and North Korea.

South Korea, backed by the US, adopted capitalism and North Korea backed by the Soviets employed communism.

Rise of Kim Dynasty:

In 1948, Kim Il Sung, the founder of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea a.k.a North Korea, backed by the Soviets, didn’t

intend to make a modern Soviet Korea but instead he wanted to restore the Monarchy and Traditional ruling with the help of Russian aid.

By the end of 1949 US and USSR troops were withdrawn from Korea.

Cold War had a significant impact on both North Korea and South Korea. The Soviets and Communist China armed DPRK with weapons and funding. On the other hand South Korea didn’t receive any significant support from the US.

Kim Il Sung saw this as an opportunity and started occupying South Korea which led to the Korean War. Neither the Soviets nor the US troops directly participated in the war

At first North Korea was winning and successfully occupied all of South Korea. At this point the UN intervened, with the help of US peace keeping forces it beat the North Korean forces and recaptured Seoul. But they didn’t stop there. The forces proceeded further North to occupy Pyongyang and almost reached to the Yulu river, this posed as a potential threat to China, despite the repeated warnings from China the UN forces didn’t pay any heed to it. The Chinese put a swift end to this Misadventure by sending troops as volunteers and helped the North Korean forces to recapture their territory. This made China a strong ally to North Korea.

Korean War came to an end in 1953 with an armistice which provided a DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) as a buffer between the rivals.

Post War Crisis:

In the early stages, North Korea performed comparatively well in terms of economy and overall development than its Southern counterpart. It re-established relations with Japan and established relations with communist countries. Kim Il Sung maintained close relations with Mao Zedong. China was its major importer and exporter. Things were good till 1970’s, the death of Mao Zedong severed the ties between North Korea and China as the latter changed the Foreign Policy from Socialism to Capitalism. China started establishing relations with the Western countries, this deteriorated the North Korea-China relationship. The fall of Soviet Union (1991) was a major blow to the Korean Economy. It experienced a major economic Turmoil with the Death of Kim Il sung in 1994.

Kim Jong Il the eldest son of Kim Il Sung declared a ‘three year’ mourning (Yes you heard it right) to commemorate his father’s loss and to take over the reins.

The initial years of his reign were unsuccessful and a severe famine in mid-90’s left the country economically devastated. So in order to reinforce his regime he adopted ‘Military First’ policy which helped to reshape the country.

Unlike his father he tried to improve relations with its southern counterpart and adopted the ‘Sunshine Policy’, North Korea and the United States signed an Agreed Framework which was designed to freeze and eventually dismantle the North Korea's nuclear weapons program in exchange for aid in producing two power-generating nuclear reactors and the assurance that it won't be invaded again.

How a Pakistani Nuclear scientist helped North Korea in its Nuclear Programme:

A Pakistani who turned Nuclear reactors into New-killer reactors. If there is anyone the North Korean government has to be thankful to other than its eternal leaders it’d be this man Dr.A.Q Khan the very man who called Abdul Kalam an “ordinary” scientist

A.Q Khan a man hailing from Bhopal emigrated to Pakistan graduated in Physics, went to Germany to study Metallurgy and Nuclear Physics and obtained a doctorate. He later joined URENCO a nuclear fuel company which performs experiments on Nuclear Technology. Because of his contribution to the company he gained access to the blueprints of Nuclear Centrifuges. He fled away with the blue prints which were entrusted to him and never returned them. These blue prints had the information on how to use the nuclear reactor technology to manufacture WMD. This helped Pakistan in manufacturing Nuclear Weapons (WMD). He didn’t stop there. He sold the blue prints to the power hungry countries like Libya, Iran and NORTH KOREA.

North Korea started manufacturing WMD which was a violation of Non Proliferation Treaty it signed in 1985 this tampered its relations with South Korea and USA. Bill Clinton the then president of USA tried to negotiate with North Korea which was unsuccessful. George W. Bush called it a ‘Rogue State’ and imposed heavy sanctions on it. Barak Obama maintained ‘Strategic Patience’ towards it.

North Korea slowly started losing its allies and isolated itself from the rest of the world. In 2012 Kim Jong Un the youngest son of Kim Il Sung became the Supreme Leader of DPRK after his father’s death.

Kim Jong Un is an enigma. In his reign of 5 years never made a foreign trip. Only a handful of Americans met him, which include Basketball star Dennis Rodman and a few players of Harlem Globetrotters. Kim Jong Un came to limelight when North Korea tested its First Hydrogen Bomb. This led to a global panic as all the countries have now abandoned the Tests of WMD. North Korea started manufacturing ICBMs, and successfully test fired a medium range ICBM Taepodong-2. This received a wide spread criticism from all the countries and this made UN to impose sanctions again.

Why is North Korea so dead set in manufacturing Nuclear weapons ?

Why is a small, impoverished country funnelling all its resources into the Nuclear program?

Well, the answer is pretty straight forward, it is for the survival of the country. A shield against the retributions.

North Korea has a history of being an Outlaw state, provoking its neighbours since its inception by using its status of being a soviet client as a shield from retributions. But the fall of Soviet Union in 1991 left the North at crossroads. Either to surrender to the US and face a similar fate like Iraq and Libya or to rise up and determine its position. It chose the latter and started testing WMD.

Chinese interest:

China, the new super power is the only country which seems reluctant in discarding its ties with North Korea even though the rest of the countries have isolated it. China, a member of United Nations Security Council supported North Korea through thick and thin. It Vetoed any and all the decisions against North Korea. China’s trade relations with North Korea is unique. It is the largest Importer (about 61%) and exporter (about 67%) of all the goods. Although China is benefiting less compared to North Korea, it kept aiding it regardless.

The reasons China is supporting North Korea are,

• Refugee Problem:

According to UN, North Korea prioritises food supply towards high status members leaving the common citizens at the lowest priority level. Because of this, every year thousands of North Korean citizens try to cross the border of China to seek refugee due to food insufficiency and human rights violation. China, which is already the most populated country in the world cannot handle the refugees.

• Geo Politics:

China is a rising super power. The presence of a superior military near its territory is a security concern. US troops are stationed in South Korea. North Korea a long-time rival of South Korea would act as a buffer if it is provided with resources.

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North Korea is just a pawn in the grand scheme of China. It looks like North Korea realised that it's been overplaying its position for too long, when it aborted its plans of making a move on the US island of Guam.