U.N. Throws $290 Million Lifeline to North Korean Regime
Brett Schaefer /
North Korea’s status as an international pariah is richly deserved. The country is a proliferator of nuclear technology having helped build a Syrian nuclear site that was destroyed by Israel and is believed to be assisting Burma in its own clandestine nuclear program. North Korea successfully detonated two nuclear devices on October 9, 2006, and May 25, 2009 and the U.S. believes North Korea has enough plutonium for at least half a dozen nuclear weapons. The regime has been striving to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering these weapons by testing its long-range Taepodong-2 missiles twice in recent years. In its pursuit of these nuclear and missile capabilities, North Korea has violated numerous United Nations Security Council resolutions. Most recently, North Korea stands accused of sinking a South Korean ship.
Efforts to negotiate and engage with the North Korean government over these issues by the current and past U.S. administrations have encountered repeated disappointment. To its credit, the Obama administration has resisted calls to engage in a new round of bilateral negotiations with North Korea until Pyongyang provides tangible evidence of the resumption of efforts to completely and verifiably abandon its nuclear weapons programs. In response to North Korea’s attack on the South Korean naval ship as well as its continuing violation of U.N. resolutions and international law, the U.S. recently announced new economic and financial sanctions on Pyongyang. (more…)