EDITORIAL - Resolute UN action needed

Unable to get the usual international food aid and other concessions in exchange for his shakedown tactics, North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-il finally carried out his threat to test what experts are starting to concede was the country’s first nuclear bomb. Except for Kim’s kindred brethren such as the Communist Party of the Philippines, which roundly praised Pyongyang, much of the sane world condemned the nuclear test.

Can Kim Jong-il be placed under international control? Pyongyang’s nuclear capability can no longer be taken away, but Kim can be pressured to stop his nuclear weapons program. South Korea, which has insisted on pursuing its so-called Sunshine Policy of engaging the North and working for eventual reunification, joined the rest of the international community in condemning the tests. Until yesterday there were numerous street protests in Seoul, but it is still uncertain whether there will be a major shift in the Sunshine Policy.

Some quarters have pointed out that international sanctions have failed to stop Kim from oppressing his people and, as the world has seen, from developing a nuclear weapon. These quarters say that sanctions have merely aggravated problems of acute hunger and poverty in the reclusive North.

Letting Kim get away with the testing with a mere slap on the wrist, however, will be a passive stamp of approval that is sure to encourage Pyongyang to pursue WMD development. Such weapons, at the disposal of an unpredictable despot like Kim, can pose a serious threat not just to the region but to the rest of the world.

A nuclear-capable North Korea has forced neighboring countries to rethink their own national defense capabilities. The United Nations can still move to prevent a possible new arms race. Often slow in responding to crises, the world body must act resolutely on this problem before nuclear proliferation gets out of hand.