This year marks the golden jubilee of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and the silver jubilee of its indefinite extension. Legally binding in nature, this Treaty is often regarded as the bedrock of the global nuclear non-proliferation regime.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), known to the World as North Korea, has indicated that it has increased its ‘existing’ nuclear arsenal to counter a possible preemptive invasion by the United States. Earlier, the self-proclaimed nuclear power accused the United States of seeking to topple the government at the helm. It also feared that the joint US-South Korean military exercises could pose a preparatory war against the country.