North Korea, Nukes, and Nonsense
But North Korea belongs in an entirely different category. As a matter of officialdom the Korean war ended in 1953 with a cease fire agreement. That means the war never really ended, and if anybody breaks the cease fire rules, the demilitarized zone at the 38th parallel will become a very militarized zone. Since that cease fire agreement North Korea has isolated itself except to the extent that it relied on Soviet and Chinese foreign aid. When the Soviet Union dismantled itself, there was no money to pay its hangers-on like North Korea and Cuba. China also directed its financial assets to other purposes. North Korea then slid into the abyss of famine, abject poverty, and complete isolation.
At some time in the process North Korea had to choose between food for its people or nuclear weapons for its military. How else could a country with no obvious source of stability afford to develop a nuclear weapons program - unless you recall that the US gave North Korea its reactors. That aside, the scientists to provide the guidance and the resources to supply the reactors had to come from somewhere. Meanwhile North Korea demanded the Western countries it abhors should send food to avert famine. The West complied.
Then North Korea confirmed it was developing a nuclear program. The US ended all food and fuel shipments to the country. North Korea tried to do a blackmail move by demanding the shipments resume. If they did not, North Korea would complete its next stage of nuclear weapons development. It should be noted that at no time did North Korea specifically state that it would back away from its nuclear program if the food and fuel shipments resumed.
Then came the next did-they-really-do-that?! moment. US Secretary of State Colin Powel told the press the US would not consider military action against North Korea. Granted, use of force is something that must always be weighed very carefully, but it can create more trouble later when the assertion "we will not attack you" is widely accepted as official policy. Beyond that, North Korea will regard the assertion as confirmation of US "weakness". Use of force would be dangerous to say the least, but not using it would leave North Korea's nuclear program intact and nearer to operation.
Consider the different reactions to North Korea and Iraq in respect of UN weapons inspectors. Iraq denies it has a program, but inspectors
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