North Korea Programme - Publications
- North Korean security challenges: a net assessment
This IISS Strategic Dossier provides a detailed and objective assessment of North Koreas nuclear, chemical, biological and missile programmes. It is also broad in scope, addressing North Koreas conventional forces; internal dynamics amidst an unfolding dynastic succession; non-military security threats, including state criminality, human rights abuses and refugee issues; and unification scenarios for the peninsula.
- The Korean Crises and Sino-American Rivalry
by Benjamin Schreer and Brendan Taylor
Survival: Global Politics and Strategy, vol. 53, no. 1, FebruaryMarch 2011, pp. 1319
- The Military Balance on the Korean Peninsula
The Military Balance on the Korean Peninsula
- North Korean Dossier
North Koreas Weapons Programmes: A Net Assessment is a comprehensive and detailed evaluation of North Koreas nuclear, biological and chemical weapons programmes and efforts to develop ballistic missiles. The book traces the historical development of North Korean programmes in each area and presents an assessment of current capabilities and estimates of future developments.
- North Korea's Weapons Programmes: A Net Asses
Contents PrefaceFull text HTML & PDF> History: Disarmament Diplomacy with North KoreaFull text HTML & PDF> North Koreas Nuclear Weapons ProgrammeFull text HTML & PDF> North Koreas Chemical and Biological Weapons (CBW) ProgrammesFull text HTML & PDF> North Koreas Ballistic Missile ProgrammeFull text HTML> The Conventional Military Balance on the Korean PeninsulaFull text HTML> ConclusionFull text HTML & PDF> NotesFull tex
- Preface
Click here for the pdf version PrefaceThe International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) sees as one of its core missions the presentation to a wide public of the best available information on military holdings and strategy worldwide. For nearly half a century, the IISS has sought to provide facts on which intelligent policy analyses could be based. Each year we publish The Military Balance, an assessment of the military inventories held by some 170 countries. Especially since...
- History
History: Disarmament Diplomacy with North Korea Click here for the pdf version Overview Diplomatic efforts to deal with North Koreas programmes to acquire nuclear weapons and develop its ballistic missile capabilities have, over nearly 25 years, witnessed both success and failure. During this period, four different approaches have been tried. Firstly, beginning in the 1980s, the US led efforts to employ pressures and inducements to convince North Korea to adhere to the 1968 Treaty on t
- North Korea's Nuclear Weapons Programme
Click here for the pdf version North Koreas Nuclear Weapons ProgrammeOverview North Koreas nuclear efforts can be divided into four distinct phases. During the first phase (195980), the countrys nuclear programme was primarily focused on basic training and research. North Korea relied on assistance from the Soviet Union, which trained North Korean scientists and engineers and helped to construct basic research facilities including a small research reactor an
- North Korea's Chemical and Weapons (CBW) Prog
Click here for the pdf version North Koreas Chemical and Biological Weapons (CBW) Programmes Overview Deciphering the chemical and biological weapons capabilities of any country is a challenge. Chemical weapons (CW) programmes are difficult to trace because many of the facilities potentially involved in military activities are dual-use, with legitimate peaceful purposes, and are relatively easy to conceal. With biological weapons (BW), this is even more the case. With regard to North...
- North Koreas Ballistic Missile Programme
North Koreas Ballistic Missile ProgrammeOverview North Koreas interest in developing a ballistic missile capability appears to stem from its continuing efforts to establish and maintain robust military forces against South Korea, Japan and US forces in the region. As such, the reach of North Koreas missile programme has expanded from, in the 1960s and 1970s developing and deploying tactical artillery rockets, to developing and deploying short-range ballistic missiles
- The Conventional Military Balance on the Kore
The Conventional Military Balance on the Korean Peninsula Overview The modern political history of the Korean Peninsula is shaped by the legacy of the 195053 Korean War. This bitter and costly conflict ended in military stalemate, with North and South Korea continuing to be divided by the 38th parallel. Subsequently, North Korea amassed large and formidable conventional military forces, which are mainly forward-deployed near the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), seemingly in position to launch
- Conclusion
Click here for the pdf version ConclusionThese are the primary conclusions of our assessment of North Koreas nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programmes, its ballistic missile programme and the conventional balance of forces on the Korean Peninsula. Nuclear Compared to other weapons programmes, North Koreas nuclear weapons efforts have received the lions share of intelligence scrutiny and attention, especially by the US, which views nuclear proliferation as its...
- Notes

- Appendices
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT),London, Moscow and Washington DC, 1 July 1968.Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula (NSDD), Seoul, 31 December 1991.Agreed Framework between the United States of America and the Democratic People'sRepublic of Korea, Geneva, 21 October 1994.
- Foreword
ForewordThe International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) has pleasure in presenting this report, a summary of the proceedings of The Second IISS Regional Security Summit: The Gulf Dialogue. Following an inaugural meeting in 2004, this second summit was held, again in The Kingdom of Bahrain, from 24 December 2005. The Gulf Dialogue is intended to provide a forum for the national security establishments of the participating states to exchange views on the security challenges of the...
- Introduction
Introduction Click here for the pdf version The IISS Regional Security Summit, or Gulf Dialogue, is an exercise in paradiplomacy.The IISS has for many years brought together government ministers and officials, bilaterally and multilaterally, in circumstances that they could not easily organise for themselves. Since 2002, the IISS has successfully convened the so-called Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, bringing together the defence ministers, chiefs of staff, national security of
- Opening Remarks
Opening Remarks Click here for the pdf version The Second IISS Regional Security Summit was opened by Dr John Chipman, Director of The International Institute for Strategic Studies. He said the Institute believed there was a gap to be filled in security consultations in this region.Noting that the first Gulf Dialogue had been held a year earlier in Bahrain, Dr Chipman paid tribute to the Kingdom of Bahrain for their enthusiastic support for this innovation in regional...
- Plenary session 1
The United States and Regional Security Click here for the pdf version The most taxing military engagement of the US Iraq is in the region, while Gulf states are the objects of much of the transformational diplomacy on which the US is now engaged as part of its broader campaign against the sources of terrorism. Washingtons engagement with the region is extensive. The US has a large force deployed in Iraq, where it is seeking to restore security, counter an...
- Plenary session 2
Perspectives on Gulf Cooperation Council International Security Relationships Click here for the pdf version The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is the primary formal membership organisation of the lower and northern Gulf. Its six members Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman have come into association with each other to reflect and to act in concert on issues of common concern and matters of mutual advantage.They examine policy across a broad a
- Plenary session 3
The Nature of the Regional Terrorism Challenge Click here for the pdf version The session began with a stark analysis from Sheikh Sabah Khalid Al Hamad Al Sabah, President of the National Security Bureau, Kuwait, of the development of international terrorism, emphasising its organisational aspects and political goals. Sheikh Sabah listed measures that Kuwait had taken in education, religious training and democratic and social reforms to stop young people being led towards extremism. Over the...