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December 2, 2008 8:56:24 PM CST

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Kim Jong-Il a 'Pigmy', 'Tyrant' US Will Miss

Posted Sep 14, 08 3:59 PM CDT in Opinion,  World 

(Newser) – The Bush administration felt a pending bittersweet goodbye when news leaked that North Korea's Kim Jong-Il likely had a stroke last month, the New York Times reports. True, officials had called Kim a "tyrant" and a "pigmy," but they knew he kept close tabs on his nation's nuclear arsenal. Now North Korea, like Pakistan, is a volatile country without a dictator to keep its nukes in check.

US intelligence officials are reshuffling their nuclear deterrence plans, fearing that groups in nations like North Korea may seize nukes during times of upheaval. But a Harvard prof disagrees, saying it "is very difficult for me to imagine someone arriving at a North Korean facility with guns blazing and emerging with a nuclear weapon." One bit of good news: North Korea only has enough plutonium to make about a dozen nuclear weapons.

Source New York Times

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In this Korean Central News Agency's undated photo released Aug. 14, 2008 by Korea News Service in Tokyo, North Korea's leader Kim Jong Il, left, inspects women troops.   (AP Photo)
Han Sung-Joo, a U.S.-Korea expert, asks: 'The question is, is North Korea more or less likely to give up its nuclear weapons if there is a government change?'   (AP Photo)
Outgoing Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf salutes, as he leaves the presidential house in Islamabad, Pakistan on Monday, Aug. 18, 2008.   (AP Photo)
South Korean police officers stand guard behind a picture of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il during an anti-North Korea rally in front of the venue for high-level talks between South and North Korea.   (AP Photo)
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Pakistan • Pervez Musharraf • North Korea • nuclear weapons • Kim Jong Il • international governments


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