North Korea Position Paper

1. Background of the issue Ever since December of 1945 when North Korea became a dictatorship under Kim Il-Sung, it has been considered a threat to the stability in Asia. North Korea was involved with manufacturing counterfeit money, and international drug sales in order to finance the production of a nuclear weapons program. The government as also openly admitted to kidnapping citizens of other countries such as Japan or South Korea. In November 2010, North Korea displayed a newly built uranium enrichment plant. The international community has been pressuring them to stop their nuclear program, but North Korea has isolated itself that almost no visitors can enter or leave the country therefore much knowledge of North Korea’s activities are unknown. In 2003, North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and began developing their own nuclear bomb imposing a huge threat since the missiles can reach anywhere from the United States and China to South Korea or Japan. The international community imposed sanctions upon North Korea in vain but it has not stopped their nuclear program. Even though the IAEA adopted several resolutions which called for North Korea to comply with international standards, they were ignored. After North Korea tested seven missiles over the Sea of Japan in July 2005, South Korea immediately stopped food aid in protest. Other countries such as the US, Japan, and Australia condemned all of North Korea’s nuclear tests demanding that North Korea would suspend all missile launches. By January 2009, Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State visited North Korea to normalize economic ties if they halted their nuclear program, but North Korea did not agree. 2. Israel’s position on the issue
Although Israel does not play a major or direct role in the issue on North Korea’s missile crisis, we stand firmly behind the United States because they are one of our strongest allies and share our same interests in stopping North Korea’s