The Offensive Ambitions of North Korea's Nuclear Program

For decades, North Korea has been moving to acquire and develop deliverable nuclear weapons—the bigger, the better. Today’s hydrogen weapon test is a major step in that direction and a threat to the United States and its security commitments in Northeast Asia and beyond.

Nuclear weapons are not cheap. So why does a desperately poor country like North Korea want them so badly? Could it be, as some have argued, that the prestige-challenged Kim regime wants them just to enhance its image? Or perhaps the weapons are just for defensive purposes. Every year, the United States and South Korea hold joint military exercises that are designed to confront a(nother) North Korean invasion of the South. And every year, the North Koreans stage an apoplectic response, accusing the United States and South Korea of preparing to invade the North. Such explanations of North Korean behavior suggest it is defensive in the face of these threats, and