ABSTRACT
After North Korea withdrew from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in March 1993, the North Korean nuclear problem became a key issue that could threaten peace and stability not only in the Korean peninsula but also in Northeast Asia. The nuclear issue may be misunderstood if the focus is put only on inter-Korean relations. On the one hand, the domestic political consideration in both North and South Korea has influenced the cause and the process of North Korean nuclear development. On the other hand, the nuclear issue is to be solved at the regional level because the US has been a key player, and other countries in Northeast Asia have also had keen interests on that issue. In particular, the regional politics in Northeast Asia gained more influence as a multilateral framework, including the US, China, Japan, Russia and the two Koreas was launched to settle the second nuclear crisis which had been initiated by Pyongyang’s admission of possessing highly-enriched uranium program in October 2002.
