North Korea, after two agreements over the last two decades designed to halt their nuclear weapons work and two nuclear detonations indicating the agreements weren't worth the paper they were written on, North Korea is restarting their plutonium plant:
The U.N. nuclear agency said on Thursday it had seen releases of steam and water indicating that North Korea may be seeking to restart a reactor that experts say would be capable of making plutonium for atomic bombs.
North Korea announced in April that it would revive its aged research reactor at the Yongbyon nuclear complex but said it was seeking a deterrent capacity.
Say? Didn't Iran agree to halt most (or some, I'm not clear) work at their plutonium reactor under the interim agreement?
But no worries, it isn't like North Korea and Iran are part of some "Axis of Evil" that cooperates on nuclear and missile work!
To be clear, much as Iran appeared to be outsourcing a nuclear plant built by North Korea in Syria until the Israelis blew it apart in 2007, I worry that Iran is canceling out much of the impact of their interim deal with us by getting North Korea to pick up the slack.
North Korea needs money, and the interim agreement grants Iran perhaps $10 billion in relief over the next 6 months.
North Korea would like some of that cash. Assuming Kim Jong Un doesn't want to be the last Kim to sit on the throne in Pyongyang.
Hey! Here's something else the interim deal does!
Now, following last week's interim deal to ease a decade-long standoff over Iran's nuclear activities, Tehran will be allowed limited purchases of aircraft parts and repairs.
Why is this important?
While foreign ministers raced to Geneva for a crucial phase of talks over Iran's nuclear activities earlier this month, passengers with the country's national airline faced a little-noticed drama on the other side of the world.
As a 37-year-old Boeing 747 climbed out of Beijing bound for Tehran, the Iranian crew received a cockpit alert that one of the jumbo jet's four Pratt & Whitney engines was on fire.
Iran's air fleet is old. They need spare parts. They may be rare and expensive, but Iran can seek them out now.
Note where the aircraft failure took place. They were on a flight from Peking to Tehran.
Far be it from me to suggest that a North Korean embassy official could deliver research documents or specialized equipment or devices to a flight going to Tehran. Heavens, no.
I mean, "Axis of Evil" is so post-9/11, isn't it?
