The 3 AM Call for Barack Obama on North Korea

The title of today’s lead story in The New York Times is “Citing Rising Risk, Obama Seeks Nuclear Arms Cuts.” It provided additional background on the launch of a missile by North Korea on Saturday as well as President Obama’s general stance towards non-proliferation, a speech that had been scheduled in advance of the test.

President Obama makes a very poignant point when he notes that the threat of nuclear war has gone down while the threat of a nuclear attack has gone up. The article reveals he was awakened by his press secretary, Robert Gibbs, at 4 AM to notify him about the test.

President Obama made a very salient point during his speech. The United States can’t just try to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons without pursuing any concrete actions ourselves. His talks with President Medvedev of Russia, designed to reduce the number of warheads, and his pledge to try and pass the Comprehensive Test Ban in Congress, provide a solid policy base to justify our attempts with North Korea and Iran, that is, to avoid the charge of hypocrisy.

The article also points out two dilemmas in our actions to restrain North Korea, and, by extension, Iran. First of all, it isn’t illegal for any country to try and launch a satellite. The Chinese have raised this matter in urging restraint in our attempt to impose sanctions on North Korea.

Secondly, how do we enforce our nuclear rules when a country ignores sanctions and the possibility of war seems too risky? These are two quandries for our new President to explore.