A report in the Japan Times says that North Korea’s behavior may serve as a reminder or wake up call to aligned nations that they need to act on Iran to prevent it from becoming armed with nuclear weapons like North Korea.
Which raises the question, when did North Korea gain nuclear capability? While the George W. Bush Administration was busy attacking Iraq and sloppily chasing after terrorists in the Middle East, North Korea was developing its nuclear capability.
“North Korea (officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea or DPRK) declared in 2009 that it had developed a nuclear weapon, and is widely believed to possess a small stockpile of relatively simple nuclear weapons. The CIA assesses that North Korea also has a substantial arsenal of chemical weapons. North Korea was a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treatybut withdrew in 2003, citing the failure of the United States to fulfill its end of the Agreed Framework, a 1994 agreement between the states to limit North Korea's nuclear ambitions, begin normalization of relations, and help North Korea supply some energy needs through nuclear reactors. The IAEA has met with Ri Je Son, The Director General of the General Department of Atomic Energy (GDAE) of DPRK, to discuss nuclear matters.[5][6] Ri Je Son was also mentioned in this role in 2002 in a United Nations article.[7]”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korea_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction
Now, while America remains “tied up” in winding down in Afghanistan and concerned about Syria, North Korea is creating a distraction. It appears that it is all for Kim Jong-un to shore up his military credentials, although there could be a link to aid Iran to buy more time.
As this story suggests, that may backfire.
All eyes are on the renegade regimes and not missed is the possibility that they are collaborating and coordinating their actions.
“North Korean nuclear crisis could speed up action on Iran: analysts
AFP-JIJI, AP
APR 7, 2013
VIENNA/ALMATY – With North Korea issuing apocalyptic threats of nuclear war in recent weeks, Western powers have been reminded of what could happen if they fail to find a solution to Iran’s disputed nuclear program, experts say.
World powers “are now even more anxious not to have with Iran a situation like the one we have with North Korea,” Oliver Thraenert, head of the Center for Security Studies at ETH Zurich said.
On Friday, Iran and the so-called P5+1 — the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council (the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia) plus Germany — met in Almaty for fresh nuclear talks in hopes of a breakthrough.
But the talks appeared to run into trouble shortly after they began.
A Western diplomat privy to the talks said Iran’s response to the offer from the group fell short of what the six wanted and instead amounted to a “reworking” of proposals it made last year at negotiations that broke up in disagreement. He said the two sides remained a “long way apart on substance” as the talks adjourned Friday.
“The P5+1 will be even more mindful of the need to resolve the Iranian nuclear crisis before it gets to the stage of North Korea and possessing a nuclear weapon, which would make the situation in Iran ever so much more complicated and dangerous,” said Mark Fitzpatrick of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Whereas Pyongyang has already proven its nuclear might with three nuclear tests — including one as recently as February — the debate over Iran still revolves around whether it is developing an atomic bomb under the cover of its civilian nuclear program.
In any case, Western powers have been pressing Tehran to cut uranium enrichment and close a nuclear facility at Fordo to alleviate fears it is seeking the bomb.
North Korea’s brinkmanship — which has evolved even to threatening a nuclear strike on the United States — may not be “directly affecting” the Almaty talks, but “it certainly is in the minds of many of the participants,” Fitzpatrick said.”
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