Obama's Worsening North Korea Woes

On Monday, North Korea's official news agency announced that the regime had "successfully" conducted an underground nuclear test. Although the test has yet to be fully verified, it was announced on the heels of a long-range missile launch on April 5, and it has the international community duly worried about what the opaque government of Kim Jung Il wants.

What is most remarkable is how fast the relationship of the government in Pyongyang has soured with the rest of the world after the highly visible destruction of their weapons-grade plutonium facility at Yongbyon.

That event took place after President George W. Bush lifted U.S. sanctions under the Trading with the Enemy Act and began the actions necessary to take North Korea off the state sponsors of terrorism list. The North then destroyed it's primary nuclear cooling tower — with U.S. media organizations watching. The North Koreans also turned over an inventory of some of their nuclear programs as part of the Six-Party Talks, with the U.S., China, Japan, Russia and South Korea, in order to complete the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

But then things went south. North Korea refused to verify the complete dismantling of its nuclear program, then the missile tests began, and now the underground nuclear test. After the April 5th long-range missile launch, the U.N. Security Council issued a Presidential Statement, which drew a quick and angry reaction from the North Korean regime.

Some analysts believe a power struggle within North Korea is behind the change of heart. There is talk that Jang Seong Taek, Kim Jung Il's brother-in-law, may be setting up a caretaker government in order to line up a succession for Kim Jung Il's youngest son, Kim Jong Un, if Kim Jung Il's health does not improve. Others believe it is to gain more concessions from the Obama administration.

(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Although North Korea's announcement of a nuclear test is not an immediate threat to other nations, it is setting off alarm bells, particularly because of the recent long-range missile tests and because analysts believe North Korea has enough plutonium to make six to eight nuclear bombs. As a result of the North announcing the test, Japan called for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Monday afternoon.

The Six-Party Talks have not yet succeeded and the U.N. Security Council was not able to pass a binding Resolution after the April missile launch. The international community is left with its hands a bit tied about what to do next to pressure the defiant regime of Kim Jung Il — as well as how to deal with the apparent succession struggle in Pyongyang.

This nuclear test does appear to be aimed at getting U.S. attention. It is certainly an interesting coincidence that North Korea's provocations always fall on U.S. holidays: the 2006 missile test took place on July 4; the first test of a nuclear weapon on Columbus Day, and this announcement of a "successful" nuclear test on Memorial Day.

Tibor Tóth, Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) in Vienna, Austria echoed the concern of the international community.

"Today's nuclear test claimed by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) constitutes a threat to international peace and security and to the nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament regime," said Toth. "It is a serious violation of the norm established by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) and as such deserves universal condemnation."

North Korea may be looking for more aid, for diplomatic relations and perhaps even a formal end to the Korean War, but their actions Monday are more likely to unite the international community in its effort to bring Pyongyang back to the bargaining table —back on the path to denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.

North Korea violated the 2006 U.N. Security Council Resolution (1718) and has walked away from the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. The test of the Obama Administration's metal will be to bring unity to the U.N. Security Council - and Russia and China, in particular - in a perplexing and dangerous environment.