New satellite photography reveals that preparations are underway at the Sohae Satellite Launching Station (Tongchang-dong Space Launch Center). 38 North analysts reveal what can be seen in these latest images, and what we can expect to see in the coming days and weeks.

With the 2012 Seoul Nuclear Security Summit just around the corner, the US-Korea Institute at SAIS is proud to announce the release of the full Nuclear Security Summit Working Paper Series. This eight-paper series discusses the history and goals of the Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) process, the progress that has been made since the Washington […]

Selected at age 24 to become an official state propaganda artist, Song Byeok’s faith in Kim Jong Il was ultimately betrayed when famine struck North Korea in the late 1990s. Millions of people-including Song’s father, mother, and sister-perished. Before finally escaping to South Korea in 2002, Song endured brutal torture at the hands of the […]

The upcoming Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) in Seoul, South Korea, will raise the international profile of the threat of nuclear terrorism and focus attention on the need to better secure weapons-usable nuclear materials in all corners of the globe. It follows the first NSS held in March 2010 in Washington, DC. Another summit will be […]

A 1986 National Intelligence Estimate concluded that a small number of groups may have been capable of high-level nuclear terrorism, if they had access to a weapon or sufficient fissile material, but were inhibited by the political consequences. Access to fissile material is key—both for terrorists trying to attain a nuclear capability, and those racing […]

As Seoul prepares to host the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit, the meeting will probably resemble its predecessor in many ways. Three years after President Obama’s Prague speech, nuclear security still offers some of the “lowest hanging fruit” in terms of progress on the nuclear agenda. The context for the 2012 summit, however, is quite different. […]

As a complement to the objectives detailed in the 2010 Washington Communiqué and Work Plan, a number of countries made national pledges to take specific measures to improve global nuclear security. These ranged from domestic, unilateral measures to cooperative, multinational contributions that bolster global nuclear security. In advance of the Seoul Summit, this paper provides […]