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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 May 2025
For 60 years the world has faced no greater threat than nuclear weapons. Yet nuclear politics, in principle the most urgent for human survival, has been in practice the most ridden with hypocrisy.
Mohammed ElBaradei, Director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has described as “unworkable” the way of thinking that it is “morally reprehensible for some counties to pursue weapons of mass destruction yet morally acceptable for others to rely on them for security and indeed to continue to refine their capacities and postulate plans for their use.” [1] While he did not spell out particular countries, the nuclear superpowers plainly fill the category of countries that “rely on.., refine…, postulate plans for” use of nuclear weapons, while they undoubtedly see as “morally reprehensible” the attempt of other countries, notably North Korea and Iran, to do likewise. While plainly hypocritical, the former is the position of the United States (and its allies, such as Japan).
[1] Mohammed ElBaradei, “Saving ourselves from self-destruction,” New York Times, 12 February 2004.
[2] Jimmy Carter, “Saving nonproliferation,” The Washington Post, 28 March 2005.
[3] “McNamara derides illegal nuke policies,” AP, 10 March 2005.
[4] “The GOJ (Government of Japan) … cannot help but rely upon security policies which include nuclear deterrence.” See discussion between Japanese NGO organizations and the arms control and disarmament specialists of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “The real thinking of Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA),” http://www.peacedepot.org/e-news/nd/japanup.html.
[5] Morton Halperin, “The nuclear dimension of the U.S.-Japan alliance,” Nautilus Institute, 1999. http://www.nautilus.org/archives/library/security/papers/US-Japan-4.html
[6] Mohammed ElBaradei, “Seven steps to raise world security,” The Financial Times, 2 February 2005.
[8] “South Korea, Russia wants diplomatic push, China blames US policy,” Agence FrancePresse, 1 September 2003.
[9] Selig Harrison, “Crafting Intelligence,” March 2005. Japan Focus No 229. http://japanfocus.org/article.asp?id=229
[10] Selig Harrison, “Did North Korea Cheat?” Foreign Affairs, January-February 2005, and at Japan Focus, No 186, http://japanfocus.org/article.asp?id=186
[11] Charles L. (Jack) Pritchard, “Six Party Talks Update: False Start or a Case for Optimism,” Conference on “The Changing Korean Peninsula and the Future of East Asia,” sponsored by the Brookings Institution and Joongang Ilbo, 1 December 2005.
[12] Joseph Kahn and David E. Sanger, “U.S.- Korean deal on arms leaves key points open,” New York Times, 20 September 2005.
[13] For relevant documents, Korea and World Affairs, vol. xxix, 3, Fall 2005, pp. 45-464.
[14] North Korean Foreign Ministry Statement of 20 September 2005, ibid., p. 458.
[15] “U.S., Partners end N. Korean nuclear project,” Associated Press, 22 November 2005.
[16] Yoshida Yasuhiko (head of public relations at IAEA, 1986-1989, subsequently professor at Osaka University of Economics and Law), “Keisuiro no tottoku ha Kin Nissei no ikkun,” Shukan Kinyobi, 30 September 2005, pp. 20-21.
[17] Guy Dinmore and Anna Fifield, “U.S. hardliners grab North Korean Policy reins,” The Financial Times, 20 December 2005.
[18] Peter Gregory and Geesche Jacobsen, “Freighter crew cleared of drug charges,” Sydney Morning Herald, 6 March 2006.
[19] “US accuses North Korea of $100 bill counterfeiting,” Washington Times, 12 October 2005.
[20] Josh Meyer and Barbara Demick, “N Korea running counterfeit racket, says US,” Sydney Morning Herald, 14 December 2005.
[21] David L. Asher, “The North Korean criminal state, its ties to organized crime, and the possibility of WMD proliferation,” Policy Forum Online, No. 05-92A, Nautilus Institute, 15 November 2005. http://www.nautius.org/fora/security/0592Asher.html
[22] “US says N. Korea ‘criminal regime’,” BBC News, 17 December 2005.
[23] Kwang-Tae Kim, “Agency: North Korea not counterfeiting,” Associated Press, 2 February 2006.
[24] Bruce B. Auster and Kevin Whitelaw, “Upping the ante for Kim Jong Il,” US News and World Report, 21 July 2003.
[25] Seung-Ryun Kim, “Horowitz: North Korea will explode within one year,” DongA Ilbo, 24 December 2004.
[26] “Tear down this tyranny,” The Weekly Standard, 29 November 2004.
[27] “Korea's Place in the Axis,” Foreign Affairs, 81, May-June 2002, pp. 79-92. Quote here is from the book, Victor D. Cha and David C. Kang, Nuclear North Korea: A Debate on Engagement Strategies, New York, Columbia University Press, 2003, p. 153.
[28] International Court of Justice, Advisory opinion on the legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons, 9 July 1996, paragraph 97, http://www.mint.gov.my/policy/treaty_nuclear/icj9623_nucthreatopinion.htm.
[29] Hans M. Kristensen, “Japan under the Nuclear Umbrella: US nuclear weapons and nuclear war planning in Japan during the Cold War,” Nautilus Institute, July 1999, http://www.nautilus.org/library/security/papers/Japan.pdf; “Vulnerability of North Korean Forces,” Defense Nuclear Agency, Washington, April-1977-March 1978, published under FOI by Nautilus Institute, 31 March 2004. http://www.nautlus.org/foia/NKVulnerability.html.
[30] Chosun ilbo, 6 June 2005.
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