Last Thursday, the very reputable Japanese Newspaper, Nikkei, reported that the intelligence services of several countries are looking into whether a ship that sailed from North Korea to Iran last December contained enriched uranium. I bet I know the answer to that. The Islamic Republic would not be the first rogue regime to which the North Korean slave state has transferred illicit nuclear material. Syria, which in Sy Hersh fantasyland would be a leading peacemaker were it not for the warmongers in Tel Aviv and Washington, worked hand in glove with Kim Jong Il in developing a nuclear reactor that the Israelis, mercifully, destroyed in 2007. A reactor, by the way, financed by Iran. Don't tell that to Roger Cohen, either.
If this latest information about Pyongyang's involvement in global nuclear proliferation is true, it would also not be the first time that it has tried to help the Iranian government in its quest to equip itself with a deliverable nuclear warhead. Last August, as Jay Solomon of the Wall Street Journal reported, North Korea attempted to fly a plane full of secret cargo to Iran but was stopped in its tracks after landing the plane in Burma. When the jet, owned by the North Korean state airline, asked the Indian government for permission to fly over its airspace, the Indians refused at the request of the United States. Here's another example of how the Indian-American alliance, a natural alliance of the world's oldest democracy and its largest, reaps us rewards.
This contraband mission occurred just nine weeks before the Bush administration inexplicably removed North Korea from the United States's list of terrorism sponsors. What a stupid move, hailed at the time, of course, by the "engagement" crowd, as a wise, wise way to sugar up Kim and his cronies. The loudest voice protesting this decision at the time was our former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton, the most effective man to represent the interests of the United States at Turtle Bay since Daniel Patrick Moynihan earned the ire of Henry Kissinger by speaking the truth, too loudly and too often. Where is Bolton now that we need him?
In the latest iteration of the silly game that the "international community" plays with the North Korean Stalinists, Pyongyang yesterday expelled United Nations nuclear inspectors after the Security Council condemned its launch of a long-range missile last week. It also renounced all of its previous agreements, vowed it would "never participate" again in the Six Party talks, and declared that it would restart its production of plutonium. "We are viewing this as an unnecessary response to the legitimate statement put out of concern by the Security Council," Hillary Clinton said. "Unnecessary?" Is she a schoolteacher?