North Korea appears defiant

It appears that North Korea, in an effort to appear independent, even defiant, may be overplaying its hand by taking overt action to resurrect its nuclear weapons program.
Reaction was swift on several fronts after North Korean technicians removed U.N. seals and cameras from four nuclear facilities, including a plant that makes fuel rods. By reprocessing material on hand when North Korea put its nuclear weapons program in mothballs eight years ago in an agreement reached with the Clinton administration, the North could produce five or six nuclear weapons in as little as six months.
If that were allowed to happen, it would clearly upset the balance of power on the Korean peninsula.
Monday, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld warned Pyongyang that the U.S. military could win a war in Korea even while battling Iraq. The strong statement was obviously meant to disabuse North Korean Ppresident Kim Jong-il of the idea that he can act with impunity because the United States will be distracted in the Middle East.
Reaction in South Korea
Meanwhile, South Korea's president-elect, Roh Moo-hyun, appealed to Russia, China and Japan on Tuesday to help find a peaceful solution to a nuclear dispute with North Korea.
And South Korea's outgoing president, Kim Dae-jung told his cabinet, & quot;South Korea, the United States, Japan, China, Russia and the European Union are all strongly calling on North Korea to abandon the nuclear program. But the North is not listening now."
The North would do well to begin listening.
While there is growing sentiment in the South for a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Korea and for some sort of reconciliation with the North, a clear majority of South Koreans want the United States to stay. And while Roh Moo-hyun tapped into that nascent anti-American sentiment during his campaign, he should not find it difficult to choose between "tolerating" American protection and subjugating the South's national interests to a regime in the North that gets its swagger from having a half dozen nuclear bombs in its arsenal.