More than six decades have passed since the signing of the Korean War Armistice Agreement halted the bloodshed on the Korean Peninsula. Although war between the two Koreas was put on pause, the promise of peace remains elusive to this day. Painfully aware of its vulnerability to its southern neighbor and the U.S. forces stationed there, North Korea began its nuclear program in the 1950s. Despite years of nuclear negotiations between the United States, North Korea, and other concerned parties, North Korea has persisted in its quest to obtain a reliable nuclear deterrent.

Image: A behind the scenes shot of the 1954 Tōhō film Gojira, showing the original Godzilla as an ancient radiation-breathing monster awakened by the hydrogen bomb. Released months after the Lucky Dragon accident during the Castle Bravo test, the movie spoke to Japan's victimization by nuclear weapons." Source: Wikimedia Commons.

The ongoing Russian-Ukrainian conflict, with its recent escalation in the Sea of Azov, continues to draw attention to the substance of security commitments pledged by the nuclear weapons states to Ukraine in exchange for dismantling the nuclear arsenal it inherited from the Soviet Union.

In Hollywood, North Korea means drama. Films like The Interview (2014) or Red Dawn (2012) entertain and alarm at the same time. The fictional story of an attempt by CIA agents to assassinate Kim Jong-un, The Interview caused North Korea to mount a cyberattack on the distributor, Sony Pictures Entertainment. In Red Dawn, a group of American high school students stand up against North Korean troops invading the U.S. mainland.

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry documents reveal the importance of the NPT in 1994 decision to denuclearize.

This year, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) is celebrating its 50^th anniversary since it opened for signature on July 1, 1968.