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North Korea's Real Aim May Be to Peddle Nukes to Others

Sale of weapons, info is true threat from secretive regime

By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff

Posted May 26, 2009 6:44 AM CDT
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(Newser) – North Korea's nuclear test yesterday makes it no likelier that the rogue state will actually launch a weapon of mass destruction, argues AP analyst Robert Burns. What it does suggest is something perhaps even scarier: that the regime may facilitate the nuclear ambitions of other state actors or even of terrorists. The cash-strapped North has a history of selling nuclear secrets to foreign buyers, and diplomacy has so far failed to halt its program.

President Obama said yesterday that the US and other nations have to "stand up" to Pyongyang, but it's unclear what methods the president can use to hamper a regime impervious to sanctions. One Harvard professor suggested that Kim Jong-Il has long been underestimated, and his actions remain unpredictable. "Could this guy believe he could sell a nuclear bomb to Osama bin Laden?" he said. "Why not?"

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak talks with his US counterpart Barack Obama on the telephone in Seoul, Tuesday, May 26, 2009.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak talks with his US counterpart Barack Obama on the telephone in Seoul, Tuesday, May 26, 2009.   (AP Photo/Yonhap, Jo Bo-hee)
North Korea fired several short range missiles off its western coast, a news report said Tuesday, a day after the country defied world powers and carried out an underground test of a nuclear bomb.
North Korea fired several short range missiles off its western coast, a news report said Tuesday, a day after the country defied world powers and carried out an underground test of a nuclear bomb.   (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
South Korean protesters with defaced photos of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il shout slogans during a rally against North Korea's nuclear test near the U.S. embassy in Seoul, Tuesday, May 26, 2009.
South Korean protesters with defaced photos of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il shout slogans during a rally against North Korea's nuclear test near the U.S. embassy in Seoul, Tuesday, May 26, 2009.   (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A South Korean man walks past a map of Korea Peninsula at Dorasan Station in the demilitarized zone that separates the two Koreas since the Korean War, in Paju, South Korea, Tuesday, May 26, 2009.
A South Korean man walks past a map of Korea Peninsula at Dorasan Station in the demilitarized zone that separates the two Koreas since the Korean War, in Paju, South Korea, Tuesday, May 26, 2009.   (AP Photo/ Lee Jin-man)
US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice speaks to the media after a Security Council meeting about the North Korean nuclear test, Monday, May 25, 2009.
US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice speaks to the media after a Security Council meeting about the North Korean nuclear test, Monday, May 25, 2009.   (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 3 comments
Corona_Kinq
May 26, 2009 12:48 PM CDT
How are you not banned yet?
manbearwire
May 26, 2009 3:27 AM CDT
What's the hardest part about buying a nuke on the black market? I'd say it's probably telling your parents you're a terrorist. Buying the nuke--not that hard, as demonstrated in this video: http://www.vbs.tv/video.php?id... Mind-blowing and distressing, to say the least.
Observer
May 26, 2009 1:41 AM CDT
With 60 years of bitter animosity between us... what's stopping us from completely wasting these freaks? We need to tell China to stay on the sidelines while we demolish every facet of North Korea's weapons systems and infrastructure. We could cripple these people in an afternoon. There is no excuse to allow the world's worst regime to continue. Except to justify keeping 35,000 US troops on South Korean soil. I do not want to see a another single US life lost for Korea. Let Japan and South Korea take the heat.

Universal criticism for an unyielding regime
Seattle Times

FAQ on the North's nuclear capacity and ambitions
Guardian (UK)

 
nuclear proliferation • Barack Obama • North Korea • nuclear weapons • nuclear program • Kim Jong Il • weapons of mass destruction • nuclear test

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