North Korea, Iran pose scary nuclear threat

As a nation, we are so absorbed and disillusioned with the war in Iraq that we may be missing crucial developments in North Korea and Iran, two other fronts in the war against terror. Worse, our will to fight may be so weakened that our ability to respond to these threats is compromised.

These thoughts came to mind as our editorial board visited this week with Ambassador John R. Bolton. Bolton most recently served as the U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations. More relevant to his discussion of North Korea and Iran is that for four years he was the undersecretary of state for arms control and international security. In that job, Bolton became intimately familiar with the issue of nuclear proliferation.

Bolton first shared his views on North Korea. Unfortunately, in certain respects, North Korea is a criminal regime of the most petty kind. For example, many believe that North Korea does a brisk business in illegal drugs through its diplomatic pouches. It also apparently makes millions of dollars by counterfeiting U.S. currency. According to U.S. Treasury sources, the North Koreans are exceptionally good in their counterfeiting skills. This is all relevant because it is clear that North Korea has no moral impediment in doing anything for a buck. For example, "there is no government official who has any scruples that would prevent North Korea from selling nuclear material or nuclear weapons to any terrorist group who had the hard currency to pay for it." This is truly frightening.

In addition to its lawlessness, North Korea is a tragic example of how disastrous totalitarian governments can be at the personal level.

In just 50 years, almost unbelievable physical differences have emerged between North Koreans and South Koreans, many of whom are from the same families. South Koreans are richer, healthier, happier and live much longer. South Koreans are significantly taller than their North Korean counterparts.

Notwithstanding the terrible poverty of its people, North Korea is consumed with the desire to produce nuclear materials. So far, despite North Korea's agreement to shut down and eventually abandon its nuclear facility and cooperate with inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, it is clear that North Korea has willfully failed in each of these commitments. Bolton fears that the apparent weakness of the United States and its partners to get real action from North Korea weakens our ability to negotiate with other "nuclear weapons aspirants," particularly Iran.