When North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 2003, it paid no cost for its move – and then went on to declare itself a nuclear power by testing two nuclear weapons.
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Closing that gap is one concrete step the US and some other countries would like to see come out of the nonproliferation discussions under way at the United Nations in New York. They want the 40-year-old NPT’s review conference, which occurs every five years, to create a set of consequences for any country that would resolve its questionable nuclear status by simply pulling out of the NPT.
But getting such a proposal approved – or just about any other concrete action taken – by the 189 signatory states of the NPT won’t be easy.
IN PICTURES: Nuclear Weapons
Many countries, including those in the nonaligned movement, are suspicious of proposals coming from nuclear powers that are aimed at nonnuclear states. Nuclear powers like the US, Russia, and China, on the other hand, do not like to hear international forums telling them they need to do more in the area of disarmament.
On top of that, the NPT review conferences over the years have settled into a practice of working by consensus – meaning that any one country can stop conference action, which in turn means that little concrete action usually occurs.
“It’s a massive mistake,” says Deepti Choubey, deputy director of the nuclear policy program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. What has become the “consensus” rule means that urgent issues facing the international nuclear regime are often either put off for consideration five years later – or weakly addressed with what she calls a "lowest common denominator document.”
Strengthening the NPT
But Ms. Choubey sees better prospects for measures updating and strengthening the NPT coming out of this year’s conference. She takes as a “good sign” that conference delegates agreed Wednesday to create a subsidiary group to address separately some issues, including some of the thornier ones like member withdrawal.
US officials tie this better atmosphere to President Obama’s focus on nuclear issues and in particular on steps he has taken toward nuclear disarmament.
Obama’s actions “especially over the past six weeks have set the stage for this conference,” said Ellen Tauscher, US undersecretary of State for arms control and international security, in a meeting explaining US policy to conference delegates Wednesday.
She cited the administration’s Nuclear Posture Review that places new limits on any US use of nuclear weapons, Obama’s nuclear security summit in April, and especially the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) with Russia.
“It moves us from mutually assured destruction to mutually assured stability,” she said of the new START.in the sky
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