Israel, North Korea, India, and Pakistan are all non-signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which forbids production of nuclear weapons for countries that did not have them prior to the treaty in 1968 (hell of a grandfather clause). North Korea was a signatory, but withdrew fairly recently. Iran is a signatory, meaning they can't manufacture nuclear weapons, but they are allowed the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes (which is their alibi).
As far as the security thing goes, that's quite true, and quite unfortunate. While nuclear deterrence makes sense for each individual nation-state, as a whole it's basically another threat of extinction.
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