(EDITORIAL from the Korea Herald on June 15)

N.K.'s true intentions

North Korea responded to the latest U.N. sanctions against it with the
declaration that it would start its uranium enrichment program, weaponize all its
plutonium and respond militarily to any blockade.

Such a provocative reaction to the U.N. Resolution 1874, an expanded and tougher
sanction than Resolution 1718, imposed in 2006 following North Korea's first
nuclear test, was expected.
However, the announcement that the communist state would commence uranium
enrichment came as a surprise. While the current round of nuclear disarmament
negotiations began after North Korea reportedly told then U.S. Assistant
Secretary of State James Kelly that it has a secret uranium enrichment program
back in 2002, Pyongyang had denied running a covert uranium enrichment program.
There have been several reasons to suspect that North Korea was operating a
uranium enrichment program, a path to making nuclear weapons.
North Korea has now made it clear that it will never abandon its nuclear weapons.
While the North Korean Foreign Ministry statement carried by the North Korean
state media said, "It has become an absolutely impossible option for the DPRK to
even think about giving up its nuclear weapons," it is now suspected that
Pyongyang never intended to give up its nuclear weapons.
It has become apparent that even as Pyongyang was participating in the six-party
talks on North Korean denuclearization - a process which focused on shutting down
North Korea's plutonium-producing facilities - Pyongyang was pursuing a separate
uranium enrichment program. So much for all the hoopla surrounding North Korea's
detonation of a cooling tower at the Yongbyon nuclear plant carried live
worldwide on television. It was supposed to be North Korea's commitment to giving
up nuclear weapons. Well, the world now knows that it was all a sham.
Given this latest development, the viability of the current six-party process as
a way to achieve denuclearization of North Korea is questionable. A new framework
for dealing with North Korea's unequivocal nuclear ambitions is urgently needed.
North Korea will top the agenda during the summit talks between President Lee
Myung-bak and U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington this week. The two
leaders will need to fine tune their objectives vis-a-vis North Korea.
At this juncture, Washington appears to be primarily concerned about the threat
of nuclear weapons proliferation posed by North Korea. The United States intends
"to do all we can to prevent continued proliferation by the North Koreans," said
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton following the North Korean announcement.
Meanwhile, for South Koreans, the security threat posed by a nuclear-armed North
Korea is immediate and menacing. Reflecting such concerns, Lee said in an
interview conducted before the United Nations adopted the latest resolution
against North Korea, "I fully support President Obama's call to have a world
without nuclear weapons ... but in the meantime we are faced with North Korea
trying to become a nuclear power and this really is a question we must deal with
now."
North Korea has openly stated its determination to keep its nuclear weapons. The
world now knows that Pyongyang did not negotiate in good faith. If Pyongyang
thinks that it can drive a harder bargain by threatening to produce more nuclear
weapons, it is badly mistaken.
(END)