Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=7/30/2003

TYPE=ON THE LINE SHORT

NUMBER=1-01368

TITLE=NORTH KOREA'S NUCLEAR PROGRAM

INTERNET=Yes

EDITOR=OFFICE OF POLICY 619-0038

CONTENT= INSERTS IN DALET

Voice: This is On the Line and I'm ______________. After years of trying to hide its efforts to develop nuclear weapons, North Korea now says it is actively involved with a weapons development program. The Communist regime of Kim Jong-Il said it has enough plutonium to build a half-dozen nuclear bombs. North Korea has also test-fired missiles into the sea of Japan. These rockets may be capable of carrying nuclear devices.

Ilan Berman, of the American Foreign Policy Council, says that North Korea may be using its nuclear capability to blackmail other countries:

ACT1 ILAN BERMAN 0:33

"If the North Koreans tomorrow came to the Bush administration, to the White House and said: 'We are going to realize our goal of reunifying the Korean peninsula and you're going to let us because you value Los Angeles more than you value Seoul,' we would have to agree with them, because they have an intercontinental ballisic missile capability that puts the West Coast of the United States within range. Now, they might not say that, but it's certainly credible that they might threaten their neighbors closer in, like Japan or South Korea. Unless we are able to provide security assurances to those neighbors, our Asian alliances are bound to suffer."

Voice: Michael Levi of the Brookings Institution says that he is more concerned that North Korea might sell nuclear materials to terrorists:

ACT2 MICHAEL LEVI 0:17

"I think that's a real worry that we have to think about. North Korea has shown no restraint at selling any kind of military technology in the past. And if it continues to build nuclear weapons or at least the material for nuclear weapons, the risk of proliferation to terrorist groups increases. And we have to be very concerned about that."

Voice: Michael Waller is a professor at the Institute of World Politics. Mr. Waller says that the North Korean regime has spent fifty years consolidating its control, supporting terrorists, and threatening its North Korean neighbor:

ACT3 MICHAEL WALLER 0:26

"And we've done nothing practical to try to undermine that regime or to try concretely to stop its weapons program.... They've tricked us into paying ransom money or blackmail money or extortion money, whatever you call it, to build nuclear reactors for them, to send grain that's being used to feed their armies and starve their people. And what it's done is forced us into a corner so that ultimately all that's left for us is a large-scale military option."

Voice: The U.S. and the European Commission have condemned North Korea's nuclear weapons program. In a joint statement, they urged "North Korea to visibly, verifiably, and irreversibly dismantle that program and to come into full compliance with international proliferation obligations as a fundamental step to facilitate a comprehensive and peaceful solution."

For On the Line, I'm ________________.