The North Korean crisis has entered a new stage now that the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, has referred the issue of Pyongyang's nuclear-weapons development to the U.N. Security Council. The isolated Stalinist state, which created a similar crisis a decade ago, has resumed its program to develop weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles.
How to contain the threat from North Korea is an urgent question facing the international community. In particular, Japan and South Korea, which are exposed directly to the threat, must respond firmly through closer consultation and cooperation with the United States.
The fact is that South Korea's new president, Roh Moo Hyun, and U.S. President George W. Bush remain wide apart. While Roh is pushing inter-Korean dialogue by continuing the "sunshine policy" of engagement, Bush is taking a hardline posture to get Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear-weapons program.