everything we possibly can to not get into a conflict there. >> to understand why north korea has fought so fiercely over the years for nuclear weapons you need to understand all that they went through to get them. one man who understood the power of the atomic bomb was its creator. robert oppenheimer. >> the world would not be the same. >> he looked back on the day the nuclear age began. july 16th, 1945. the test code named trinity. >> i remembered the line from the hindu scripture. multi-armed form and says, now i am become death. the destroyer of worlds. >> three, two, one. now. >> a few decades later north korea has become vishnu. how did a country so poor, so isolated from the world acquire the most destructive technology on earth? and can we really expect them to give it all away? this is the story of now north korea got the bomb. north korea's nuclear program began early. >> they always wanted a nuclear weapon. >> to get the bomb, kim il-sung needed help from his powerful cold world ally the soviet union. the soviets gave the north civilian nuclear technology. training its scientists in russia and helping them build a small nuclear research reactor. but they stopped short of giving them the bomb. afraid of the chaos that might result tie soviets told the north koreans don't build the bomb. >> after china joined the nuclear club in 1964 -- kim il-sung asked chairman mao for help but mao refused to help, as well. if north koreans wanted the bomb themselves.have to make it