Foreign Affairs Friday: North Korean Troublemaking

It is well known that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il oppresses the heck out of his people, counterfeits our money, kidnaps foreign citizens, and pursues nuclear weapons. Those transgressions are bad enough, but now he's exporting nuclear material. That Syrian nuclear facility that Israel bombed two years ago was built with North Korean assistance. Now Burma is apparently in the market for North Korea's #1 export. I'm not really sure what they're afraid of that they think they need nukes; at least North Korea has a bunch of American troops across the border to worry about.

Burma would seem like a tempting target for a few precision bunker busters to destroy its nascent nuclear program, but the fact that China is next door would make that problematic. That's the same complication China presents with North Korea. In addition to proximity, China also provides much-needed material support to these countries. The last thing China wants is for these two countries to collapse and send a bunch of refugees its way.

I think Bill Clinton could have solved this North Korean problem during his visit this week. While asking him to shoot Kim Jong-il might have been excessively blunt and risky, he could have loaded a few bombs in his private jet and let them go as he departed North Korea with the two reporters. He probably would have known exactly where the dear leader was at that moment. It would have been great.