North Korea's nuclear test

The nuclear test North Korea conducted last Monday has understandably triggered world-wide condemnation and concern as, among other things, it has irretrievably changed the security equation in the sensitive Korean peninsula.
The US, Russia, China, Japan, Australia, South Korea and Britain, among others, have condemned the test in strong terms, while Pakistan has also deplored it.
China, which is the closest ally North Korean has in the region, too has termed it a "brazen" act, while Australia has called for imposition of UN sanctions on Pyongyang. The European Union has called the test "unacceptable," maintaining that it profoundly jeopardises regional stability and represents a grave threat to international peace and security, while Britain has seen it as a "very, very serious" development. France and Germany have also denounced the North Korea's test.
The Pakistan Foreign Office in a statement has regretted the development, and said that Pakistan "had urged DPRK to desist from introducing nuclear weapons in the Korean peninsula." Urging all countries in the region to exercise restraint, Pakistan said that the six-party disarmament talks "should have been used to address North Korea's concerns." The Foreign Office statement said that this step by DPRK may trigger a chain reaction, which nobody wants, adding "we are looking at it in the context of its impact and ramifications for international peace and security." However, apparently undeterred by the world's angry reaction, Pyongyang is believed to be planning to conduct further nuclear tests.
Viewed in retrospect, things in fact seem to have been moving in this direction since Pyongyang's pullout from NPT in 2003 and its declaration in 2005 that it had mastered enrichment technology. Further, for about one year North Korea had refused to attend the six-party talks hosted by China. Now that North Korea has gone ahead, the ball has landed squarely in the international community's court, with many analysts wondering how the world will react to the "provocation." For one thing, North Korea will certainly be subjected to more stringent UN sanctions than before, in the wake of the choice it has made in open defiance of the world opinion.
The US wants the UN Security Council to authorise international inspections of all cargo going in and coming out of North Korea to check for weapons of mass destruction or related materials. The US Ambassador to UN, Johan Bolton is reported to have already presented at a closed door UN Security Council session, 13 "elements" of a resolution he is drafting. Other options being currently considered include a blanket arms embargo and a freeze on assets associated with Pyongyang's possible weapons of mass destruction. Among other elements, Bolton has proposed suspension of all activities related to North Korea's ballistic missile programme.
The US is meanwhile believed to be pushing for a resolution under Chapter 7, which allows for economic sanctions, and even war, while Russia has demanded of North Korea to return to the regime of non-proliferation. However, all this pressuring may only set off a chain reaction of sorts, with Pyongyang attempting to develop nuclear warheads as fast as it can, to fit them to missiles in its sophisticated arsenal, and the West imposing ever harsher sanctions. In a related development, the anti-Pakistan lobbies ensconced in western capitals may try to draw parallels between the nuclear programmes of Pakistan and North Korea.
But, as pointed out by the Foreign Office spokesperson, Tasneem Aslam, the two programmes are in entirely different leagues altogether. First, Pakistan's tests were in self-defence after India had already carried out its Pokhran-II tests, while North Korea has in a way pioneered a possible nuclear arms race in a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.
The most likely candidates to join the nuclear race are now South Korea and Japan. Secondly, Pakistan's nuclear programme is uranium-based while that of North Korea is plutonium-based, thus any collaboration between the two countries cannot be conceived. Thirdly, the so-called "Khan proliferation ring" has been thoroughly investigated and dismantled. Therefore, there is no question of Pakistan coming under any pressure from any quarter.
There is a perception among some analysts that North Korea may in fact be planning to use its nuclear test as a pressuring tool to seek political engagement with the West. Sanctions have already crippled its economy, and it cannot produce enough food to feed its 23 million people. It has therefore to rely heavily on China for food.
Secondly, North Korea is already an isolated country, and putting around it yet another cordon of sanctions will only make it inaccessible to overtures the West may want to initiate in future after the tempers have cooled down. Further isolating an impoverished, but nuclear armed, country may prove a self-defeating strategy. Therefore, political engagement offers the best possible solution. Let the West not create another Iron Curtain.