Day: October 9, 2006

I shook my head in despair when I read the headline to this story.

The United Nations Security Council today began working on a resolution condemning North Korea’s announcement of the test, shortly after President Bush said the move requires an “immediate response.”

I guess there’s just no diplomatic blood running through my veins. I mean, I know we’re not just gonna start droppin’ bombs, but still, anytime the U.N. “crafts” a response, I imagine it will be the first of twenty-something resolutions condemning the DPRK. Pardon me while I yawn.

And then we have the Democrats, who would rather make yet another point of how Iraq is the reason for EVERYTHING going wrong in the world than stand united with Republicans (representing America) in their condemnation of Pyongyang.

The Senate Democratic leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, a condemned North Korea for its “reckless and counterproductive actions.” But he asserted that the Bush administration has been in a “state of denial” about North Korea, in part because the administration has been “distracted by Iraq and parayzed by internal divisions.” A comprehensive review of American policy toward North Korea is essential, the senator said.

So typical.

John Derbyshire thinks he might. Sure, we all know Bush is pro-immigration, and he’s certainly willing to grant amnesty to illegals who are in the country right now. Yet I can’t imagine he has the political will to brazenly veto a fence when a large majority of Americans want one.

They did it.

North Korea said Sunday night that it had set off its first nuclear test, becoming the eighth country in history, and arguably the most unstable and most dangerous, to proclaim that it has joined the club of nuclear weapons states.

The test came just two days after the country was warned by the United Nations Security Council that the action could lead to severe consequences.

Nations across the world condemned the test today, and an emergency meeting of the Security Council was set to take up the issue this morning.

China, Pyongyang’s closet supporter, called it a “flagrant and brazen” violation of international opinion and said it “firmly opposes” North Korea’s conduct.

In Russia, which shares a short border with North Korea, officials reacted with dismay and condemnation. “Russia absolutely condemns North Korea’s nuclear test,” President Vladimir V. Putin said in televised remarks during a meeting with his senior government ministers.

Senior Bush administration officials said that they had little reason to doubt the announcement, and warned that the test would usher in a new era of confrontation with the isolated and unpredictable country run by President Kim Jong-il.

What form that confrontation would take was not yet clear. Last week, the administration’s special envoy for North Korea issued a stern warning to Pyongyang not to go ahead with its threatened test, saying “’We are not going to live with a nuclear North Korea.”

The world response over the next 48-hours could change life as we know it. This is no time to play a war of words. Severe action must be taken against the DPRK government. If not, Iran will consider this event their green light to proceed with nuclear weapon development.

MORE: Hot Air

UPDATE: Bush statement