The development of new conventional counterforce systems and improved missile defence systems enables non-nuclear states to directly influence the strategic nuclear balance. These dynamics increase the possibility of strategic arms racing spillovers, where arms racing in one dyad yields capabilities that threaten third parties’ arsenals and thus creates a type of security dilemma. It also increases the risk of non-nuclear allies entrapping their nuclear patrons in strategic arms racing. This article illustrates this argument via the case of North and South Korea’s arms racing.

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Samuel M. Seitz is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Oxford's Department of Politics and International Relations and a Deterrence Futures Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute.

Dr. Elliot S. Ji is a Research Fellow in the Center for the Study of Chinese Military Affairs, Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University.