DPKR’s Nuclear Weapons Program
Safeguards and Agreements
The following traces the nuclear weapons program of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPKR) from its origins in the 1950s through developments in early 2003. Origins of Nuclear Safeguards On December 12, 1985, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea became a party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). On April 10, 1992, the NPT Safeguards Agreement entered into force. Before that, in 1977, the country had concluded a safeguards agreement for two nuclear research facilities. Two phases are to be distinguished in the DPRK’s nuclear program. The first started at the end of the 1950s…
