The changing political meaning of nuclear weapons in North Korea

Abstract

This article examines how political meanings of nuclear weapons in North Korean official language changed and accumulated from the first nuclear crisis of the early 1990s to Pyongyang’s declaration of the completion of its state nuclear force in 2017. Rather than asking why North Korea pursued nuclear weapons or whether it genuinely intended to denuclearize, the article traces how authoritative language about nuclear weapons evolved over time. For this purpose, this article develops an interpretive framework that examines nuclear meaning across three dimensions: military utility, normative legitimacy, and state identity. The analysis finds a gradual shift from conditional exchange and reciprocity toward deterrence and possession, followed by deeper associations with sovereignty and operational military use. As these meanings accumulated, nuclear weapons came to be presented not only as practical military instruments, but also as conditions for development and as part of state identity, while external nonproliferation norms receded from official language. This approach shows how the political meaning of nuclear weapons can continue to change after acquisition, potentially narrowing the political room for denuclearization. This, in turn, suggests that denuclearization diplomacy with Pyongyang has become considerably more difficult, though not entirely impossible.