Countries want the bomb to protect themselves from US attack

Which country poses the biggest nuclear threat?

North Korea. It says it has a nuclear arsenal, and the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency says it may have enough plutonium for six bombs. The CIA believes Pyongyang could produce 'one or two bombs' a year. But nobody knows for sure because the UN weapons inspectors were thrown out before North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2003. Six-party talks in Beijing, involving the US, are trying to negotiate North Korean disarmament.

Why do countries want the bomb?

National prestige and deterrence against regional rivals. India and Pakistan entered the exclusive nuclear 'club' of five " the US, Britain, France, Russia, China " after tit-for-tat nuclear explosions in 1998. Also, with the war on Iraq (which did not have the bomb), countries believe it is in their strategic interests to obtain the bomb as a guarantee against attack by the US.

It saved North Korea. North Korea and Iran have discovered the threat of nuclear weaponry can be turned into a powerful tool to obtain security and economic compensation from the West.

What will happen if the NPT negotiations fail?

A very grave situation. The system of international safeguards aimed at preventing a repeat of the horrors of Hiroshima in disarray. The North Koreans have pulled out and others may follow, leaving the Middle East and Asia with a big security deficit. The NPT members Egypt and South Korea have admitted secret experiments, and there are questions about Brazil and Argentina's intentions. Iran was forced to admit that it had cheated for 18 years, and Iraq and Libya violated the treaty.

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