Stopping Nuclear Terrorism

Today, President Obama and over 50 world leaders meet in Washington D.C. at the Nuclear Security Summit. At the forefront of their agenda is to find agreements on how to keep nuclear materials out of the hands of terrorists, and to deter states from developing more advanced nuclear technology.

Some key players will be missing, though, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

At a town hall on CNN Tuesday night, Republican front-runner Donald Trump suggested that Japan and North Korea should be able to defend themselves from North Korea, even if that means developing new nuclear weapons.

"At some point," Trump said, "we have to say we're better off if Japan protects itself against this maniac in North Korea. And we're better off frankly if South Korea started protecting itself."  

Japan is indeed planning new factories to obtain plutonium that will add to the world’s stockpiles of bomb fuel. And in South Korea, there is support for a nuclear weapons to deter Kim Jong-Un in the North. Cheong Seong-chang, a senior security analyst at the Sejong Institute of South Korea, says that South Korea possesses enough nuclear material to make 4,000 nuclear weapons.

"All we need is our president's approval," Seong-chang said. "If we have nuclear weapons, we'll be in a much better position to deal with North Korea."

Debra Decker, Senior Advisor at The Stimson Center. She will be presenting at the Nuclear Security Summit today. She joins The Takeaway to discuss if the world would indeed be safer if more states like South Korea and Japan developed bombs to deter South Korea, as well as how leaders are attempting to keep nuclear material out of the hands of terrorist groups.