So because we were bribing them not to cheat, we'd earned the right to complain when they did? Of course the North Koreans cheated. At first they hotly denied they had cheated, but later, they proudly proclaimed the fact. Today, they claim and few doubt that they possess at least some nuclear weapons. North Korea has shared its technology in the past with Iran and Libya, and since the nation is literally starving (communist economies always produce bumper crops of poverty), and since Kim Jong Il is a vain and sinister leader, we must assume that North Korea might sell nuclear weapons to the highest bidder.
This is the table that has been set for us. While many liberals seem to think that the greatest threats we face arise from the Patriot Act or from "Bush's lies," the truth is that bitter and evil men still seek the power to destroy as many of us as they can possibly hit.
The North Korea problem is not easily solved. Several essays in the July/August issue of The American Enterprise propose approaches. Daniel Kennelly points out that our alliance with South Korea has become a straitjacket, denying us flexibility as the Republic of Korea pursues an appeasement policy of its own. He proposes that permitting South Korea to defend itself will result in a more realistic policy. Gordon Cucullu notes that China, North Korea's only friend, must be pressured to lean on Pyongyang. Perhaps the only way to make them feel the heat, he suggests, is to permit Japan to become a nuclear power. Others have proposed hard-line sanctions, blockades and targeted air strikes.
The danger presented by North Korea cannot be ignored or wished away. Neither should it be eclipsed by what's happening in Iraq. The nuclear genie has been out of the bottle for 60 years, but only in the last five have truly unstable regimes been close to acquiring nukes. We need a plan now -- and then there is Iran.