The authoritative guide to ensuring science and technology make life on Earth better, not worse.

North Korea

Why North Korea may use nuclear weapons first, and why current US policy toward Pyongyang is unsustainable

By Robert E. Kelly | Nuclear Risk, Nuclear Weapons

Biden’s horse-trading on nuclear technology and fuels is an unprecedented proliferation risk

By Alan J. Kuperman | Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Weapons

Bigger isn’t always better: Why the US fails to deter North Korea, despite nuclear superiority

By Lauren Sukin | Nuclear Weapons

Watching Ukraine, South Korea and Japan eye nuclear weapons. Here’s what the US should do.

By Sayuri Romei | Nuclear Weapons

Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un shake hands

The US must trade muscles for diplomacy to end the North Korean nuclear crisis

By Colleen Moore | Nuclear Weapons, Opinion

Some countries plan to decentralize control of nuclear weapons in a crisis. Here’s why that’s dangerous.

By Giles David Arceneaux | Nuclear Weapons

Victor Gilinsky offers a less optimistic view of North Korea’s negotiating tactics and nuclear program

By Victor Gilinsky | Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Weapons

Siegfried Hecker, a Senior Fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee 21 January, 2004 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Hecker, who was a member of an unofficial US delegation that visited the controversial Yongbyon research complex this month, told lawmakers that North Korea can accumulate six Kilograms (13.2 pounds) a year of plutonium that could be used to make a nuclear weapon. "The five megawatt reactor has been re-started, it appears to be operating smoothly, providing heat and electricity, also accumulating approximately six kilograms (13.2 pounds) of plutonium per year in its spent fuel rods." Photo credit: Stephen Jaffe/AFP via Getty Images

An excerpt from “Hinge Points: An Inside Look at North Korea’s Nuclear Program”

By Siegfried S. Hecker, Elliot Serbin | Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Weapons

Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un shake hands

Interview: Siegfried Hecker on two decades of missed chances to deal with North Korea’s nuclear program

By John Mecklin | Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Weapons

The US has a new nuclear proliferation problem: South Korea

By Lauren Sukin | Nuclear Weapons

Why US policy on North Korea should prioritize nonproliferation, not denuclearization

By Jordan Chase, Eliana Johns | Nuclear Weapons

Image of an Iranian Fateh-110 missile being launched during the Great prophet-7 military exercise in 2012.

Triple threat: Russia, Iran, and North Korea trade arms to get around sanctions

By Darya Dolzikova, Daniel Salisbury | Nuclear Weapons