North Korea proliferation report raises international, regional stakes

Supplying of rogue states raises international stakes

The revelation that North Korea has been proliferating nuclear technology comes as the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), convenes in Vienna for a week-long meeting to discuss Iran and Syria's nuclear ambitions.

North Korea's dealing with Iran comes at a worrying time

Both programs are causing concern, especially Iran's as it was revealed in the IAEA's latest report that Tehran is pressing ahead with its uranium enrichment activities - despite three existing rounds of UN sanctions - and is now producing enriched uranium at even higher levels of purification, a requisite for achieving weapons-grade material.

Dr. Kongdan Oh, an Asia specialist at the Brookings Institute in Washington, believes that North Korea's dealings with Iran, Syria and Burma come with many advantages for Pyongyang.

"Iran can offer lots of things to North Korea from food to other resources; North Korea can gain high respect in the troubled world and build its own support network from befriending Syria," she told Deutsche Welle.

"After all, sometimes things are decided at the UN, and North Korea needs friends. Burma provides a golden route of trading, mineral resources, and friendship. North Korea thinks that it is a big player in the international arena, so gaining new friends is important."

"In the short term, North Korea may gain some strategic advantage through these alliances," she added. "At UN meetings which require global endorsement, such as potential, comprehensive sanctions in response to the Cheonan sinking incident, these countries can stand behind North Korea."

"In the long term, however, North Korea will lose. All advanced and developed - as well as rational - players in the global community will recognize the end of the North Korea regime is the ultimate solution to all these troubles."

Pyongyang's links with Burma stoke fears

In the present situation, North Korea's supplying of Burma with technology is as disturbing as the potential consequences of aiding Iran or Syria.

Kim Jong Il's links with Burma are causing great concern

What will be most concerning to Western powers is the combination of the UN's assertion that Pyongyang and Naypyidaw have been colluding to bypass arms control sanctions with leaked reports from Burma itself which suggests the military junta is pursuing a nuclear weapons and long-range missiles program.

While the Burmese Government is considered to be some way from creating usable nuclear weapons, information smuggled out of the repressed Asian state suggests Burma has at least one nuclear reactor capable of turning uranium compounds into uranium metal for use either in nuclear fuel or a nuclear bomb and has future plans to construct a nuclear reactor to make weapons-grade plutonium.

Burma's link to North Korea was established by Western intelligence agencies last year when photographs and documents smuggled out of the country revealed that the junta had held secret high-level military talks with officials from Pyongyang.

UN faces challenge to bring North Korea to book

"The only option is to try to plug the holes that are being exploited by North Korea," Scott Snyder said. "The significance of the report lies in identifying those holes as a basis upon which implementation of the United Nations Security Council resolution might be made more effective."

"Nuclear proliferation is a tough area and the UN has already failed in the larger sense when you consider that India and Pakistan proliferated, Israel slipped under the radar and now North Korea, Iran and others are following the path of previous proliferators," Kongdan Oh said.

"What needs to be done is for the Proliferation Security Initiative, installed by the US after 9/11, to be institutionalized and accepted as a means to prevent nuclear exports and smuggling," she added.

"Then a global network of concerned nations and leaders should create a foundation to work together to create a working body to monitor proliferating countries and rogue states. A longer-term perspective and institution building is key, not one-shot reaction after each crisis."

Author: Nick Amies

Editor: Rob Mudge