Relax! The UN is ‘Concerned’

The UN is deeply concerned that North Korea may have a nuclear weapons program. It seems that North Korea never admitted to one before. But do we really want to trust the IAEA people to resolve this? We confront the North Koreans with evidence that we know they are violating the 1994 agreement with us and are, in fact, pursuing nuclear weapons. The North Koreans deny, then, say yes we are—so what?

And what does the International Atomic Energy Agency say?

According to the article, "The International Atomic Energy Agency said the assertions, if true, meant Pyongyang had been misleading the United Nations…" If true? Are they serious? The North Koreans confess and the IAEA is unsure of what conclusion to draw? They picked a fine time to go all skeptical about the North Korean ability to tell the truth.

"We are urgently seeking information from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in response to this report, as well as information from the United States that will allow us to follow up on this very serious allegation," said IAEA Director General Mohamed Elbaradei. Again, this is just an allegation. Why on earth would the North Koreans claim they are pursuing nuclear weapons if they are not? I’m still a little shocked they admitted it at all.

But hey, the IAEA is willing to make lemonade out of lemons. Faced with the fact that there was apparently a very good reason the North Koreans never let the IAEA carry out thorough inspections to verify the 1994 agreement, they see a silver lining. They hope the confession will lead to those intrusive inspections. It will only take them, they say, 3 or 4 years to determine if their 10-year old declaration is accurate.

Assuming the North Koreans don’t lie and hide their program, of course.

Now what were the Iraq war protesters saying about the ability of the West to monitor nuclear programs and the willingness of dictators to carry out such programs? Oh yeah, they think it is a splendid idea.

On the way home today, with the skies getting grayer and the temperatures dropping, I considered the benefits of a winter war: the protesters will be cold and wet. Sadly, their papier mache puppets may wilt in the rain and snow.