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.