ABSTRACT
The principal reason that nations want to acquire nuclear weapons is for security. Security assurances may either be negative or positive. North Korea feared and resented the US positive security assurances to South Korea. It continually insisted that any tactical nuclear weapons stationed in South Korea be removed, and began secretly trying to develop its own nuclear weapons capability. In conjunction with the withdrawal of nuclear weapons from the peninsula, the United States reaffirmed its security assurance to South Korea and agreed to conduct joint military exercises in 1993, despite strong North Korean denunciations. Security assurances involving nuclear weapons have clearly played a role in helping to prevent nuclear proliferation. The role of negative security assurances in preventing nuclear proliferation is unclear. Positive security assurances that extend a nuclear umbrella by the United States or the former Soviet Union have proven to be effective nonproliferation tools.
