It's been nearly five days since North Korea claimed it tested a nuclear weapon. But the talks at the United Nations over how to respond have not yet produced a decision. The World's Katy Clark reports.
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MARCO WERMAN: US officials are gathering information about another potential threat. That is, North Korea's nuclear weapons program. The North Koreans claimed to have tested a nuclear explosive device earlier this week. The United States, though, is still trying to confirm that a nuclear explosion did in fact take place. The government in Pyongyang has also been test-firing missiles which could be used to deliver nuclear bombs. All of this activity has led to calls for new sanctions against North Korea. The United Nations Security Council is debating that, but no decision so far. Here's more from The World's Katy Clark.
KATY CLARK: Talks at the Security Council on exactly how to respond to North Korea are moving slowly. That may be in part because North Korea's traditional allies, China and Russia, are both Council members. But the pace of deliberations at the UN is disappointing to those who had been hoping for decisive action.
DAVID ROTHKOPF: I would describe the reaction as somewhere in the range between limp and predictable, or alternatively, predictably limp.
CLARK: That's David Rothkopf, a visiting scholar at The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Rothkopf believes the international community would like to convince North Korea of the error of its ways, but he says, it's tough to find an approach to which North Koreans are likely to respond.
ROTHKOPF: They're used to famine, they're used to deprivation. They don't really care so much how the people feel. So it really depends on the views of just a handful of leaders. And frankly, they've got no political or economic currency in the world other than their nuclear program.
CLARK: Leonard Spector is a non-proliferation expert with the Monterey Institute of International Studies. He says a lot depends now on how China responds to this latest provocation from Pyongyang.
SPECTOR: After its previous nuclear test in October of 2006, I believe, it was China's deep concern that forced North Korea back into so-called 6-party talks, and that eventually I think led North Korea to accept some restrictions on its nuclear program. So if we see a similar pattern than I think we'll have a good outcome here.
CLARK: The White House said yesterday that China was being very helpful in efforts to censure North Korea. But Spector worries the international community runs the risk of what he terms “enforcement fatigue.â€
SPECTOR: I think this is the difficulty. We've had sanctions in place. They haven't seemed to help much. Coming back for yet another round may simply fall on deaf ears.
CLARK: Sanctions could also backfire, says Shuja Nawaz, of The Atlantic Council. Nawaz says countries that have already started down the nuclear path are often loathe to turn back.
SHUJA NAWAZ: And further sanctions or drumbeats against such countries would only strengthen the position, particularly when the countries are autocratic, because it tends to unify populations. They see it as a matter of national pride.
CLARK: That's long been the concern the US and Europe have had with Iran, which is developing its own nuclear program. Mark Fitzpatrick of the International Institute for Strategic Studies says it's highly speculative to conclude anything about what other states might be deciding based on this latest standoff with Pyongyang. But he says, others are undoubtedly watching with intense interest.
MARK FITZPATRICK: If North Korea's seen to be, quote, “getting away with it†I think that could give states like Pakistan and Iran more reason to think that well, in the future they could get away with things as well.
CLARK: Fitzpatrick says North Korea itself appears to have taken a lesson from India. It defied international will as well by testing a nuclear weapon in the early 1970s. But in 2005, President Bush lifted a three-decade US moratorium on nuclear trade with India in an effort to further relations between the two countries.
FITZPATRICK: Unfortunately, the US-India nuclear cooperation agreement that said “bygones will be bygones†in the case of India's nuclear test, created a precedent that North Korea is using. Now, that's not why North Korea has taken the step it's taken, but it does give North Korea a puffed up sense of not being treated fairly and a set of talking points.
CLARK: North Korea withdrew from disarmament talks back in April. It's since accused the Security Council of hypocrisy. Meanwhile, Iran continues to be uncooperative as well.
ROTHKOPF: What these countries want to know is will anyone stop them? Is anyone going to stand up to them?
CLARK: Again, David Rothkopf of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
ROTHKOPF: And thus far, the message they're getting is “no. If you develop nuclear weapons, we'll go to the table with you; we'll provide you with money to help develop your civilian programs. We may provide you with food aid. We'll make you politically relevant despite the fact your economy's faltering or you're insignificant in size or worse.â€
CLARK: But any hope for a quick response to North Korea's latest actions seems unrealistic. Security Council members aren't expected to vote on a resolution until next week at the earliest. For The World, this is Katy Clark.
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