ABSTRACT
North Korea's weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) have been a subject of intense interest and scrutiny since 1989 when North Korea shut down an operating nuclear reactor long enough to have allowed for removal of spent nuclear fuel from the reactor and conversion of the spent fuel into weapons-grade plutonium for nuclear weapons. That scenario and subsequent scenarios always have contained a big: if North Korea had the technological capabilities to carry out such a process. The US intelligence community and the intelligence agencies of several other countries have employed considerable resources to learn whether or not North Korea has developed weapons of mass destruction and, if so, in what form and quantities. Such activities are carried out secretly, and information acquired is highly classified. However, intelligence agencies have revealed portions of their findings periodically, and assertive journalists have been able to obtain information from intelligence officials. Thus, there is substantial, though incomplete, unclassified information on North Korea's WMDs.
