The following information and story was published in Issue One of The Paolite, 2017.

July 16, 1945: The world’s first tested nuclear weapon, code name “Trinity” explodes in New Mexico.

August 6, 1945: The US drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, killing over 140,000 people.

August 9, 1945: The US drops another atomic bomb on the Japanese in Nagasaki. There were 74,000 people who died by the end of 1945 from radiation illnesses.

October 16-29, 1962: A stalemate occurs between the US and the USSR. US finds Soviet missiles in Cuba.

July 1, 1968: The Non-Proliferation Treaty is created to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. Those who signed agreed to never acquire nuclear weapons, and all must be disarmed.

December 8, 1987: The US and the Soviet Union sign the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which eliminates all missiles in the two countries possessions with ranges between 300 miles to 3,400 miles.

September 24, 1996: The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty is created and signed by China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the US with more and more countries signing it even now. The treaty bans any and all nuclear explosions. India does not sign the treaty.

It is hard to miss the news reports that North Korea is making noise about their weapons program, posing a potential threat the the US allies.

Kim Jong Il, the previous leader of North Korea and the current leader’s father, had previously tried to improve the ties between the US and North Korea while former president Bill Clinton was in office. However, once George W. Bush came to office, something happened between the United States and North Korea, and Kim Jong Il suddenly was prepared to face off in war against South Korea and the US.

This hostility lasted until around 2009, when Barack Obama was in office, but both countries were heavily wary towards the other.

When Kim Jong Il died on December 17, 2011, his son, Kim Jong Un took power over North Korea. Once in power, Kim Jong Un violated multiple acts and treaties, and tested multiple missiles.

On July 4 of this year, North Korea claimed to have created and successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile which can reach anywhere in the world. Shortly after this, the UN adopted the Treaty of the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which was intended to internationally ban the use of nuclear weapons, on July 7. On July 28, North Korea launched a missile that landed off the coast of Japan.

In early August, North Korea announced that they were looking into a plan to strike Guam with their IBMs after President Trump stated that if North Korea continued to threaten the United States that they would “face fire and fury like the world had never seen.”

As of September 3, North Korea has claimed to have produced a hydrogen bomb, which is much smaller than a typical nuclear bomb, and are much more powerful than any nuclear weapon that have previously been used in warfare. It is believed their plan may be to attach the hydrogen bomb to their intercontinental ballistic missiles and attack. Previous tests of theirs on the IBMs have reportedly failed during the reentry process, but the only way we will know if they have it down is through more testing.

July 4, 2017: North Korea claims to have created and successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile that can reach anywhere in the world.

July 7, 2017: The UN adopts the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, the first legally binding agreement to internationally ban the use of nuclear weapons with the goal of their total elimination.

August 9, 2017: North Korea allegedly looks into a plan to strike Guam with intercontinental ballistic missiles after President Trump says that if North Korea continues to threaten the United States, they will “face fire and fury like the world has never seen.”

Story by Rebekah Reeves