How did North Korea get the bomb?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 4 May 2017
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Tensions between the US and North Korea are running high. Kim Jong-Un has been testing long-range missiles and nuclear weapons. The Trump administration wants Pyongyang to end its nuclear weapons programmes and has said “all of our options are on the table” in pursuit of that goal. North Korea has said that a "super mighty pre-emptive strike” is planned if the US uses military force against them. But – our question this week – how did this poor and isolated country develop nuclear weapons in the first place?
Presenter: Ruth Alexander
Producers: Kate Lamble, Phoebe Keane and Estelle Doyle
(Photo: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meets scientists and technicians in the field of researches into nuclear weapons. Credit: Reuters)
Transcript
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| 0:29.8 | Thank you for downloading this award-winning podcast. |
| 0:33.2 | I'm very pleased to say the inquiry just won gold at the British |
| 0:37.1 | Podcast Awards. |
| 0:38.5 | I hope you enjoy this episode. 6th nuclear bomb test. North Korea has been flexing its muscles this year. |
| 0:56.0 | This message on State TV to the North Korean people is also intended for the United States. |
| 1:05.7 | We possess mighty nuclear power and are prepared to use it, the news reader says, we will emerge |
| 1:11.3 | as victor in the final battle. The feeling is mutual. |
| 1:16.0 | North Korea is the most dangerous and urgent threat to the peace and security of the Asian Pacific. |
| 1:24.0 | We will defeat any attack and meet any use of conventional or nuclear weapons |
| 1:30.0 | with an overwhelming and effective American response. |
| 1:35.0 | U.S. Vice President Mike Pence addressing Japanese soldiers. |
| 1:40.0 | Watching the tensions rising, it got us wondering how North Korea had become a nuclear player in the first place, |
| 1:47.8 | when the international community was determined to stop that happening. |
| 1:57.4 | North Korea is poor and isolated, yet it's now a nuclear weapons power. How it got there is a lesson and a warning to the rest of the world. |
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