Questions Linger Over Korean Nukes

from the July 08, 2008 eNews issue

On June 26, North Korea handed over a 60-page declaration containing details about its nuclear program. The communist regime followed up the declaration by symbolically demolishing the cooling tower at one of its nuclear facilities. The report contains information on North Korea's nuclear activities dating back to 1986. It says that North Korea produced approximately 40 kilograms of enriched plutonium - enough for about seven nuclear bombs.

The declaration is being heralded as an important step forward in the denuclearization of North Korea. The Bush administration has responded by lifting some of the trade sanctions against the isolated state. President Bush has also announced that North Korea will be removed from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list. However many questions concerning the DPRK's activities remain unanswered.

The declaration is part of a deal in which North Korea agreed to dismantle its nuclear program in exchange for humanitarian aid and economic and political perks. The United States has promised the shipment of 500,000 tons of food, some of which has already arrived in North Korea. According to statistics published by the United Nation's World Food Program almost 40 percent of children living in North Korea are chronically malnourished. More than 6.5 million people in DPRK, which has a population of roughly 23 million, don't get enough to eat. Humanitarian organizations estimate that in the last decade more than a million people have died in North Korea from starvation.

The recent declaration is, of course, good news. However it may be premature to celebrate. Not only is the declaration 14 months overdue, it is conspicuously incomplete. The report only describes North Korea's plutonium facilities and activities. It says nothing about its suspected uranium enrichment program. North Korea obtained plans and materials for uranium enrichment from Pakistan in 1997 in exchange for missile technology. A fact which has since been confirmed by Pakistan's President Pervez Musharaf. The report also fails to give an account of the nuclear weapons already produced, and it does not address North Korea's proliferation activities. Such as its sales of nuclear technology to countries like Syria and Libya.

Over the years the sale of illicit goods as well as military and nuclear technology has provided North Korea with a major source of hard currency. North Korea is a major supplier of ballistic missile-related equipment, components, materials, and technical expertise to the Middle East, South Asia, and North Africa. For this and other reasons, many experts view recent events with skepticism.

Negotiations over North Korea's nuclear program are scheduled to begin again this week. It is the first time in more than nine months that all the parties involved have come together. The US hopes that continued pressure from the international community will motivate North Korea to completely abandon its nuclear program. Yet six-party talks between North Korea, South Korea, China, Japan, Russia, and the United States keep breaking down. For more than six years the six nations have tried to reach an agreement, without much success. Korea's eccentric dictator, Kim Jong-Il, has a history of unpredictable behavior and has proven to be a fickle negotiating partner. To learn more about this topic, click on the links below.