WASHINGTON -- The Iraq war is over, but the Korean Peninsula is growing hotter. Obvious disagreement over policy toward the North has clouded South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun's visit to the United States, while Washington's recent nuclear talks with North Korea ended in acrimony. U.S. President George W. Bush refuses to repudiate his talk of a "military option" against Pyongyang.
But why is the U.S. worried about the so-called Democratic People's Republic of Korea? North Korea is distant and poor, an economic irrelevancy, a diplomatic nonentity and surrounded by powerful states. Most important, it has no effective means to attack America.
The only serious threat to America would come from plutonium sales to rogue states or terrorist groups. However, a multinational package of carrots and sticks, not Washington's military presence in the South, is the key to precluding that course.