The war rhetoric of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea along with its threat to conduct more nuclear tests are the latest proof of how weak the nuclear arms control regime is.

However, several global initiatives have been made to strengthen the nuclear arms control mechanism. The United States and Russia, for instance, signed the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty on April 8, 2010, (it was ratified later and came into force on Feb 5, 2011), and thus broke the deadlock that had been haunting nuclear disarmament. Now the Obama administration is reportedly considering holding talks with Russia on further reducing strategic nuclear weapons, perhaps to less than 1,000 each.

Also, the Nuclear Posture Review recently issued by the US Department of Defense is aimed at reducing the use of nuclear weapons only to counter a nuclear threat. The reviewing process also considered "no first use of nuclear weapons", which is a positive move closer to China's stance.