ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the competing impulses and considers the prospects for the future of security on the Korean peninsula and the prospects for reunification. The possibility that North Korea is in the process of acquiring nuclear weapons casts a long shadow, not only over South Korea, but also over other parts of the Asia-Pacific Region. The North Korean nuclear program is seen as potentially threatening because of long-standing doubts about the stability and indeed the rationality of the regime, and the related possibility of a succession crisis. North Korea's interest in nuclear issues began in the 1950s when the Soviets and China utilized uranium deposits found in North Korea to supply their own nuclear programs. The North Koreans claimed that the reactor was shut down in 1989 as a result of mechanical problems and ninety grams of plutonium were extracted.
