The nuclear bomb in Korean Penninsula issue is analysed from game theory and cost-analysis theory, including some backgrounds about the issue.

Essay by kacey July 2003

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One of the most zealous issue charting current Asia's security landscape is 'the North Korea issue'. This isolated country came into the spotlight recently by President George W. Bush of the United States labelling it as one of the 'axis of evil' and by its admitting of working on nuclear-weapons programme. After it expelled the United Nations inspectors who had been monitoring a nuclear reactor at Yongbyon, the world became worried as it watched North Korea's next move. Its potential capability is alarming. Most analysts predict that if North Korea is still go on with its nuclear-weapons programme, it could acquire them in less than a year. North Korea could change the course of a war with South Korea and the United States. It could also threaten the United States and its allies, force a costly military buildup, provoke nuclear proliferation by powers in the region, and damage the international nonproliferation regime.

This essay will examine the issue from two points of view: the 'game theory' and the 'cost-benefit analysis'. It will furthur analyse its impacts on the world's international relations as well as suggest the should-be policy for actors involved in order to maintain peace and stability in the region and the world. It will begin, firstly, by describe the issue, producing a brief chronological picture.

Although it seemed like North Korea has just become a hotspot recently, the suspection of North Korea trying to acquire nuclear weapons can be dated back to 1987, when U.S. analysts became suspicious that North Korea was building a large facility to separate plutonium at the Yongbyon Nuclear Center, about 100 kilometers north of Pyongyang. Once finished, this facility, commonly called a reprocessing plant, would give North Korea the capability to make nuclear weapons. However, the evidence acquired at that time was not...