DECEMBER 2004 SEEMS A GOOD TIME TO DEAL WITH KIM:

As axis turns, Pyongyang feels the squeeze (JOHN BARRY KOTCH, 1/05/04, The Japan Times)

[B]ush must be savoring the aftermath of recent diplomatic movements in his direction: First, Iran negotiated a safeguards protocol with the International Atomic Energy Agency last month, and then Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi announced that he would renounce weapons of mass destruction. Gadhafi, especially, threw a monkey wrench in Kim's hardline strategy by urging other nations to follow suit.

In this regard, it was revealed that the Libyan strongman had not only been secretly negotiating with U.S. and British officials but that intrusive inspections by intelligence and nonproliferation experts had already taken place by the time Libya agreed to totally dismantle its entire stockpile.

To follow up, the head of the IAEA, Mohamed ElBaradei is due to personally oversee the beginning of the effort this week. So where does that leave Kim?

For one thing, Kim's customer base has been drastically cut back. Iraq and Libya are no longer in the WMD market, while Syria and Iran are under such close monitoring that any sales Pyongyang might be contemplating would be too risky. And lest Kim should decide to go the drug route, the recent seizure of methamphetamines and heroin in the Gulf of Oman was a stark reminder that shipments of contraband cargo could be equally hazardous.

Similarly, the curtain has come down on Pyongyang's efforts to barter its missiles for Islamabad's centrifuges.

The more we find out the more apparent it becomes that Pakistan and Syria should have been included in the Axis of Evil and that the public service ads linking drug use to funding terrorism were deadly accurate.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 4, 2004 07:40 PM