Scholar calls for closer cooperation to prevent N. Korea's WMD proliferation

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Oct. 21 (Yonhap) -- A U.S. scholar Tuesday called for closer
cooperation between the U.S. and its allies to prevent proliferation of North
Korea's weapons of mass destruction technology to Syria and Iran.
"Intelligence sharing and dialogue are important for the United States and its
allies, the ROK, Japan and Israel," Christina Y. Lin said in a seminar here
hosted by the Korea Economic Institute.
ROK stands for the Republic of Korea, South Korea's official name.
"Because of the DPRK's continual defiance of the international community and
duplicitous efforts to circumvent sanctions and test and develop WMD via proxies
such as Iran and Syria, it is important for the ROK and Israel to share their
intelligence about the DPRK, Syria and Iran in order to uncover their clandestine
activities and collaborative efforts," Lin said. Her paper was titled, "The King
from the East: DPRK-Syria-Iran Nuclear Nexus and Strategic Implications for
Israel and the ROK."
North Korea's official name is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
In September last year, Israeli planes bombed a structure at Al-Kibar, Syria,
believed to be a nuclear reactor made with the help of North Korea, but Damascus
would not acknowledge that it was a nuclear reactor.
U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director Michael Hayden recently told a forum
that "virtually every form of intelligence -- imagery, signals, human source"
shows that the structure was a reactor modeled after North Korea's Yongbyon
facility that produces weapons-grade plutonium.
Hayden said that after the bombing the Syrians "immediately cleared away the
rubble and every trace of the building ... their cover-up only underlined the
intense secrecy of this project and the danger it had posed to a volatile
region."
However, Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy
Agency, said last month that his agency inspected samples collected from the
bombed site and failed to secure any evidence to prove Israel's claim that it was
a nuclear reactor under construction.
Lin indicated she believes Hayden.
"For too long, the DPRK and Iran have exploited the lack of intelligence sharing
and lack of dialogue about the nuclear link between the Korean Peninsula and the
Middle East," she said.
As an example, she cited a rift in cooperation in the six-party talks between the
U.S. and Japan in which Japan was sidelined as Washington removed North Korea
from its terrorism blacklist.
Lin also urged South Korea to join the the U.S.-led Proliferation Security
Initiative (PSI) to monitor North Korea's air and maritime shipments of nuclear
and missile parts to the Middle East.
South Korea is considering taking part in the PSI as a full member from the
current observer status under the pro-U.S. Lee Myung-bak administration, which is
seeking a tougher stance on North Korea. South Korea's previous liberal President
Roh Moo-hyun prioritized inter-Korean ties at the cost of its decades-old
alliance with the U.S.
"Under the new Lee administration in the ROK, there is an opportunity for the ROK
to join the PSI," Lin said.
"A nuclear DPRK is not an East Asian regional problem any more than a nuclear
Iran is a Middle Eastern regional problem," the scholar said. "Both have dire
global ramifications in terms of WMD proliferation to their client states
Hezbollah, Hamas, Iraqi insurgents, al Qaida, and others that threaten ... U.S.
national security as well as Europe and other regions."