The international community is joining forces to prevent North Korea from escalating its nuclear threat. The Group of Eight summit (June 1-3) at Evian, France, adopted a declaration on the nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction, criticizing North Korea and Iran for its development of WMDs.

At about the same time, several countries affected by developments on the Korean Peninsula held a series of bilateral summits. Japan, the United States, South Korea, China and Russia took part, as international pressure for the peaceful settlement of North Korea's nuclear-arms issue and for denuclearization of the peninsula grew to an unprecedented level.

The international community shares a sense of crisis over the most serious security threat it has ever faced: international terrorism and the proliferation of WMDs. The threat emerged following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S. and the recent Iraq war.

The Japan-South Korea summit on June 7 showed that the two countries favored different policy approaches toward North Korea. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi insisted that both dialogue and pressure were necessary for a peaceful settlement of the standoff with North Korea. South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun emphasized dialogue, indicating he was averse to doing anything that might upset Pyongyang.

If North Korea were to escalate its nuclear-arms development by taking advantage of the policy gaps, it would invite "tougher measures" agreed on by President George W. Bush and Koizumi at a May 23 summit. The Pyongyang regime must be ready to act as a responsible member of the international community if it seeks assurances that it will continue to rule.

The Russo-Chinese summit held in late May agreed that a settlement by force of the North Korean problem — a thinly veiled reference to a possible U.S. military campaign — should not be tolerated, although it supported nonnuclearization of the peninsula and the continuation of nuclear nonproliferation. The international community, including China and Russia, is united in rejecting North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

The G8 declaration said North Korea's uranium enrichment and plutonium production programs, as well as its failure to comply with the International Atomic Energy Agency's safeguards agreement, "undermine the nonproliferation regime" and are "a clear breach" of its international obligations. Furthermore, the declaration urged North Korea to "visibly, verifiably and irreversibly dismantle any nuclear weapons programs, a fundamental step to facilitate a comprehensive and peaceful solution."

The declaration also mentioned Iran, demanding that country's full compliance with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

Before the summit, Bush delivered a speech in Poland outlining an initiative for nonproliferation of WMDs. Under the proposal, the U.S. and its allies have started working out programs to inspect all suspicious ships and aircraft and to seize all illegal arms and missile technology. This initiative was developed to deal with North Korea's nuclear-arms and missile development. Tokyo says it is ready to consider Washington's request for joining the initiative.

In May, a former missile engineer from North Korea testified at a U.S. congressional hearing that 90 percent of the country's missile components came from Japan aboard the North Korean passenger-cargo ship Man Gyong Bong. However, a spokesman for the Pyongyang-affiliated Chongryun in Tokyo flatly denied the testimony, saying it was a total fabrication. Yet a high-ranking U.S. official said in congressional testimony that remittances from Japanese crime syndicates have been used to fund North Korea's WMD development.

Koizumi said at the Japan-South Korea summit that illegal North Korean activities should be closely monitored, illegal fund transfers to North Korea should be stopped and stricter export controls should be implemented to prevent WMD-related shipments. Meanwhile, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's foreign-affairs panel agreed that legislation be drafted to make it possible to suspend remittances and trade with North Korea. Measures should be expedited to prevent the proliferation of WMDs.

Since a U.S.-China-North Korea meeting was held in Beijing on April 23, Pyongyang's demand for direct negotiations with Washington has hit a snag. The Bush administration rejects such talks.

The U.S.-China summit at Evian agreed that North Korea's nuclear threat should be resolved peacefully through a multilateral framework. Furthermore, China said Japan and South Korea should play important roles in this endeavor. All countries involved should act quickly to create a framework for multilateral talks.

North Korea is likely to resort to its favorite tactic of brinkmanship, on and off, to escalate tension and wring concessions. To preclude that, Japan, the U.S. and South Korea must coordinate their policy differences. The U.S.-South Korea summit May 14 agreed that increased threats to peace and stability on the peninsula would require "consideration of further steps." The Japan-U.S. summit May 23 agreed that such a situation "will require tougher measures."

The Japan-South Korea summit only reconfirmed principles agreed on at the U.S. summits with South Korea and Japan. This reflects the Roh administration's policy of stressing dialogue with North Korea. Policy differences could emerge among the three nations if the tension escalates. Former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone said in a recent lecture that the North Korean nuclear threat must be resolved through international cooperation.

History since the 1994 North Korean nuclear crisis shows that without strong international pressure, it may be impossible to get Pyongyang to give up its nuclear arms. Trying to deal with the problem after Pyongyang deploys the nuclear arms would be too late.

The best way to prevent a nuclear nightmare in East Asia is to establish an international agreement for controlling the development and transfer of WMDs and to enact related domestic laws.