LONDON -- In North America and Europe the joint problems of Iraq and of al-Qaeda-inspired terrorism dominate the news. Only limited attention is given to the threat posed by North Korea. This is partly because North Korea seems far away and partly because there is no simple way of dealing with the threat.
It is possible to think of a forcible change of regime in Iraq, but while a regime change in North Korea is just as necessary as in Iraq, the implications of trying to force through such a change are horrendous.
North Korea has admitted that, after having forsworn the production of weapons grade plutonium, it continued work on enriching uranium with a view toward producing nuclear weapons. Many observers think that North Korea may already have enough weapons-grade nuclear material for a few nuclear weapons. North Korea has already tested medium-range missiles and has exported missile technology.