On September 3rd 2017, North Korea conducted its sixth nuclear test that spread fear around the world. North Korea has used its nuclear capabilities in an aggressive manner for thirty years and researchers disagree on what purposes are behind the state’s nuclear policy. This debate must be discussed more thoroughly to be able to handle North Korea and other small nuclear states in the future.
This paper aims to further contribute to the understanding of North Korea’s nuclear policy by studying the North Korean actions from 1992 when nuclear suspicions rose to the Korean crisis 2017. By using a process tracing method with three theories about nuclear usage the study will give an increased insight regarding the debate. To get a wider perspective an interview was conducted with Hans Blix, the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, who has visited North Korea.
The main analytical result was that North Korea’s nuclear policy showed a high level of congruence with all three of the theories but the intensity differed on different periods in time. This conclusion can contribute to further research on North Korea and other small nuclear states.