North Korea: Terrorists?

Madeline Moton

Reports from BBC news state that the U.S is considering reinstating North Korea in the list of states considered to sponsor terrorism and terrorists. This aciton could have drastic effects on the already tense relationship between North Korea and the international system as a whole. The article stated that North Korea was removed from the list on October of 2008 after it began disarming and disabling a nuclear reactor, but has recently begun carrying out nuclear testing.

The question on everyone's mind is why did North Korea decided to declare to the entire international community that it conducted nuclear testing. Many answers are that it is a method of scare tactics to inform other states, especially the U.S that they are not backing down and are also developing nuclear weapons. The fault in this however it that it has not work to North Korea's advantage.

President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton however are quite reluctant to put North Korea back into the list, and are being very cautious on their actions. This could be because of the president's new tactic of soft power and emphasis on communication, but it seems to be a singal to Americans and other states that the U.S government does not know what to do with this issue. It could also be that they do not want to jump too quickly to comclusions and say that North Korea has nuclear weapons, when they really do not. The evidence however seems too overwhelming, so we will now all just have to wait and see what decision the Obama administration decides to do.