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Even if the international mood in favour of steep US and Russian nuclear cuts was to last, it is unlikely to spread to Asia, where nuclear arsenals remain comparatively modest and where regional allies rely on Washington for extended deterrence. This does not render nuclear arms control irrelevant in Asia, where there is a modest but significant tradition based on informal and unilateral restraint rather than formal agreement. But as more of Asia's nuclear programs have come out of the closet and as great power relationships intensify, the region needs to look nuclear arms control more squarely in the eye. For arms control to have real purchase in tomorrow's Asia, China and the USA will need to look beyond their currently asymmetrical relationship and find an understanding based on increased nuclear transparency which also restrains their potentially escalatory competition in advanced conventional war-fighting abilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the recent surge in both governmental and academic advocacy of nuclear disarmament, including initiatives of the Obama administration and the Australian and Japanese governments, the spectre of further nuclear proliferation arguably remains a key challenge for international security. This article suggests that this is particularly the case in Asia due to three major dynamics: (1) the stasis of the international non-proliferation regime embodied in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty; (2) the state of flux in the global and regional strategic nuclear environment; and (3) increasing regional demand for nuclear energy. This article argues that developments in each of these realms of nuclear affairs hold the potential to increase proliferation pressures in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Northeast Asian nuclear-weapons-free zone (NWFZ) or a Japan-South Korea NWFZ could help entice the DPRK to carry out its commitment in the September 2005 Six-Party Joint Statement to 'abandoning all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs'. There are two possible scenarios for the nuclear future of North Korea, and in turn, the security of South Korea and Northeast Asia: containment, in which North Korea remains nuclear-armed with a growing stockpile of nuclear weapons and gradually improving delivery capabilities; and gradual rapprochement with the USA, South Korea, and Japan. In either of these cases a Northeast Asian NWFZ or a Japan-South Korea NWFZ would improve prospects for regional stability and a denuclearized Korean peninsula and could make a significant impact in light of North Korea's nuclear arming and other recent changes in the security environment in the region. An NWFZ has implications for the future role of nuclear weapons in the regional balance of power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]