Christian Kim
Mr. Posey
English 1
3/18/13
“In 2007, North Korea declared its nuclear activity” (at Issue 54). As this quote indicates, North Korea has officially taken control of nuclear weapons. This is a major problem because now North Korea can potentially attack the United States and start a war. Research has shown that the North Korean missile crisis is caused by the threats to bomb the United States and its allies in Asia and refusing to honor international nuclear weapon agreements which have resulted in the United States and its allies fearing an attack and anxiety of what North Korea will do to prove its nuclear power. North Korea is currently testing nuclear weapons and is sending the US threats of nuclear bombs. CNN states that “North Korea announced on October 9, 2012 that they have missiles that can reach U.S mainland” (CNN 1). The North Korean crisis has now reached levels of danger that can cause an actual attack and creating even more fear in the US. This quote tells that North Korea is working up to shoot a missile that can carry nuclear bombs. Christopher Helman from the Forbes staff posted “North Korea is believed to have conducted a nuclear test on February 11, 2013. Seismic activity was detected in North Korea that evening of a 5.1 earthquake” (Helman 1). This explains that the country is testing highly dangerous nuclear bombs and is making the areas around them dangerous to live in. Bruce Cumings, who wrote an article for Current History, wrote “On April 5, 2009, not long after Barack Obama had taken office, North Korea test-fired a long range missile probably designed to carry a nuclear warhead” (Cumings 284). North Korea has been testing their nuclear weapons for many years. This quote proves that North Korea has been active since 2009 in nuclear weapon testing. However, this is not the only cause of North Korean missile crisis. According to the international agreements that North Korea signed, North Korea agreed to not test nuclear weapons, which clearly they did not follow. Branigan, a woman who writes for the Guardian, wrote, “By undergoing recent tests North Korea has violated the test ban treaty”(Branigan 1). This treaty was supposed to ban Korea from testing any kind of nuclear materials. Even though the country is currently testing these nuclear weapons and violating the treaty, no one seems to be able to stop it. William Wan, an author of an article for the Washington Post, wrote, “China is strongly dissatisfied about not honoring denuclearization program”. North Korea was supposed to denuclearize their tests because they said they would undergo the denuclearization program issued by USA. The country also violated this program and continued with more tests. At Issue, a book about International Politics, published, “In a significant move in North Korea’s denuclearization progress, Pyongyang turned in a long overdue account of its nuclear program to Chinese officials” (at Issue 60). This proves that North Korea purposely ignored the program and went straight to China for more nuclear materials. China is still supporting their longtime friend, but is still annoyed that they are stubborn and not agreeing to discontinue their tests. These and many more causes have effects on many countries. The first effect that most countries around the world, especially the USA, had was fear of a nuclear attack by North Korea. Helman, a writer for Forbes Staff, wrote, “The North Korean test is more alarming now that the missiles can reach the U.S mainland” (Helman 1). North Korea has tested long ranged missiles in the past and has successfully reached the US territory. The missile was designed to carry nuke warheads and has caused people to become afraid of what Korea might do. At Issue, a book about nuclear weapons, states, “We can’t ignore North Korea; we can’t force it to give up its nukes” (at Issue 57). This book is absolutely right. If USA just forgets about North Korea, they will carry on