The North Korean Nuclear Program: Security, Strategy and New Perspectives from Russia

Drawing on previously unpublished Russian archival materials, this book is a detailed history and analysis of the North Korean nuclear programme. The contributors discuss Soviet-North Korean nuclear relations, economic and military aspects of the nuclear programme, the nuclear energy sector, North Korea's negotiations with the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, co-operative security, and US policy. Focusing on North Korean attitudes and perspectives, the text also includes Russian interviews with North Korean officials.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments, Foreword, Introduction, 1. Russia, North Korea, and U.S. Policy toward the Nuclear Crisis, Part I. The History of the North Korean Nuclear Program, 2. A Technical History of Soviet-North Korean Nuclear Relations, 3. Nuclear Institutions and Organizations in North Korea, 4. A Political History of Soviet-North Korean Nuclear Cooperation, Part II. The Economic Context of the North Korean Nuclear Program, 5. Economic Aspects of the North Korean Nuclear Program, 6. The North Korean Energy Sector, 7. Economic Factors and the Stability of the North Korean Regime, 8. The Natural Disasters of the Mid-1990s and Their Impact on the Implementation of the Agreed Framework, Part III. Political and Military Factors behind the North Korean Nuclear Program, 9. Nuclear Blackmail and North Koreas Search for a Place in the Sun, 10. Military-Strategic Aspects of the North Korean Nuclear Program, 11. Leadership Politics in North Korea and the Nuclear Program, Part IV. The International Context of the North Korean Nuclear Program, 12. North Korea's Decision to Develop an Independent Nuclear Program, 13. North Korea and the Nuclear Nonproliferation Regime, 14. North Koreas Negotiations with the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO), 15. China and the Korean Peninsula: Managing an Unstable Triangle, 16. The Korean Peninsula and the Security of Russia's Primorskiy Kray (Maritime Province), Part V. Unsettled Problems and Future Issues, 17. The Renewal of Russian-North Korean Relations, 18. The Korean Peninsula: From Inter-Korean Confrontation to a System of Cooperative Security, 19. Russian Views of the Agreed Framework and the Four-Party Talks, 20. Pyongyang's Stake in the Agreed Framework, Notes, Contributors, Index

About the Author :
James Clay Moltz is Assistant Director and Research Professor of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies where he is Director of the NIS Nonproliferation Project. Alexandre Y. Mansourov is a research associate at Harvard University's Korea Institute.

Review :
"This is the comprehensive briefing book that American negotiators needed to have prior to the tension filled negotiations over the DPRK's threats to withdraw from the NPT in 1993. It provides many of the missing pieces as part of the international effort to interpret the motives, determination, and level of know-how that have driven North Korea's past efforts to aquire nuclear capabilities." -- Scott Snyder, Program Officer, Research and Studies Program, United States Institute of Peace "The readers of this work will have a rare opportunity to learn the views of Russian specialists on North Korea and Russian policies toward Korea. To compare and contrast their diverse views with those of American specialists is enormously useful in seeking an understanding of the world's most enigmatic society." -- Robert A. Scalapino, Robson Research Professor of Government Emeritus, Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California at Berkeley "This book casts new light on a subject shrouded in misunderstanding-- North Korea's motives for harboring and then agreeing to abandon its nuclear ambitions. To judge from these often informative and perceptive essays, Russians could play a constructive role in ending the cold war on the Korean peninsula." -- Leon V. Sigal, author of Disarming Strangers: Nuclear Diplomacy withNorth Korea "This book must be read carefully by anyone interested in North Korean nuclear games and in the future of the whole Korean peninsula." -- James Lilley, U.S. Ambassador to South Korea, 1986-1989 "This book offers many new insights into the opaque North Korean decision-making process and casts light on why North Korea may be seeking nuclear weapons. American policy makers who fail to learn from the lessons gained by reading The North Korean Nuclear Program put both the United States and the East Asian region at risk." -- Peter Hayes, Co-Director, Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainable Development "I applaud the editors' efforts in putting together such a comprehensive volume. This provides an important piece in ongoing efforts to understand the puzzle of the DPRK nulear program, and perhaps more importantly, the North Korean regime." -- L. Gordon Flake, Executive Director, The Mansfield Center for Pacific Affairs