Abstract

One of the greatest challenges facing the world today is the overwhelming quest by some member nations to acquire, develop and possess nuclear capabilities with the intention of balancing power, fears and terror at the centre stage of world politics. Iran and North Korea have been in the fore front of arms race. Therefore, it is the task of this paper to examine the circumstances surrounding the development and possessions of nuclear weapons by Iran and North Korea. Hence, this paper seeks to link between the limitations of the non-proliferation treaty (NPT) and the level of nuclear capabilities achieved by the North Korea and Iran. Particularly, primary challenges such as non-compliance to the NPT in North Korea and Iran, are carefully examined. We adopted qualitative methods of data collection and analysis. We argue that Iran and North Korea have acquired and developed nuclear capability project with the aim of striking a power balance at the center stage of world politics. This major motive accounts for non-compliance of the NPT by the two nations. We therefore recommend that the United Nations should expand its check mechanism and intensify its effort, by marrying its words on nuclear non – proliferation with full actions.

Key words: Non-proliferation, international atomic energy agency, nuclear weapons, nuclear smuggling, terrorists, non-compliance, Middle East.