One year ago, North Korea reneged on an agreement with
Washington to halt weapons tests in exchange for food aid. Since
then, the North has launched two long-range rockets, detonated a
nuclear weapon, threatened in the state media to assassinate the
South Korean president and vowed to abandon its nuclear program
only if every other country also gave up its nuclear weapons.
Media reports suggest that North Korea also continues to ship
missile and nuclear parts to Syria and Iran. Many analysts say
North Korea has become more dangerous than it was under Kim Jong
Il, who came to power in 1994 after Kim Il Sung’s death. The
North’s latest nuclear test was its most powerful, according to
South Korea’s Defense Ministry. The North’s December rocket
launch was the first successful attempt, after three failures,
to send a satellite into orbit. (There was an additional failed
launch with no satellite.) The country has also drastically
increased border security, slicing nearly in half the rate at
which defectors have bee