korean unification studies

Well, more is slowly coming out, but sources remain a little dubious. The WaPO is reporting that Israel has satellite imagery of some kind of nuclear facility. From the WaPo report:

The new information, particularly images received in the past 30 days, has been restricted to a few senior officials under the instructions of national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley, leaving many in the intelligence community unaware of it or uncertain of its significance…

Some (sources) cautioned that initial reports of suspicious activity are frequently reevaluated over time and were skeptical that North Korea and Syria, which have cooperated on missile technology, would have a joint venture in the nuclear arena.

Before we can say that this is going to derail the Six-Party Talks we definitely need more evidence. This may still prove to be based on the angry rumblings of disgruntled former UN Ambassador. In a piece in the Wall Street Journal of 31 August 2007, John Bolton stated in his final paragraph:

We know that both Iran and Syria have long cooperated with North Korea on ballistic missile programs, and the prospect of cooperation on nuclear matters is not far-fetched. Whether and to what extent Iran, Syria or others might be “safe havens” for North Korea’s nuclear weapons development, or may have already participated with or benefited from it, must be made clear. 

There is a fair number of influential people who do not want the current Six-Party talks to proceed - some have good reasons, some don’t. There is a substantial amount of evidence linking Syria and North Korea in the field of missile cooperation, but this evidence is known, documented and now dated. Bringing up connections Syria and North Korea, in the current environment, seem a little too partisan for this cynic.

The export of nuclear material and/or technologies is a line that cannot be crossed. Unlike all the other faded, half-pink ‘red lines’ that North Korea has danced over, this red line cannot be crossed. If such evidence were to get stronger, it would be the end to current diplomatic efforts.

More over at the usual suspects DPRKStudies, ROKDrop and OneFreeKorea…