Posted by
Andrews on Friday, June 27, 2008 11:41:16 AM
Why does anyone think it is meaningful that North Korea destroyed a nuclear facility? They now have the know how to build a bomb, they no longer need the early experimental facilities. We no longer use the facilities we built during the Manhattan Project either, it doesn't mean we have no nuclear weapons.
I fear that all this excitement over North Korea's meaningless act is wishful thinking on the part of the State Department. It reminds me of all the excitement over the agreement to give North Korea "light water" reactors so they would not develop any nuclear weapons.
And we know how well that turned out.
ADDENDUM
To elaborate on this, I have to ask, how can we possibly monitor North Korean weapons production? It is perhaps the most paranoid, closed society on earth. We couldn't even monitor weapons in the disorganized mess that was Saddam's Iraq, yet we think we can monitor North Korea well enough to take them off the list of state sponsors of terrorism?
Even if they did allow full inspection and eliminated production of any nuclear fuels or weapons in their own country, they still have a stockpile of existing weapons. In addition, they have friendly states such as Syria where they can carry out the enrichment of uranium and production of plutonium in exchange for providing nuclear know how. And should Syria refuse, I am sure many states would welcome such a deal.
Finally, should North Korea become truly desperate for materials, I have no doubt that China would be willing to provide nuclear materials in exchange for more control over their wayward client state.
It just seems that the State Department, or perhaps the Bush administration, is too desperate to see hopeful signs here. I think it would serve our interests better to wait a bit longer before declaring everything peachy on the Korean peninsula.