Disarm now?

North Korea launched a three-stage, Taepo Dong-2 rocket on April 4th against the warnings from world leaders that this was a provocative action and would have consequences. The said purpose of the launch was to possibly put a satellite into orbit. The rocket was said to have a possible distance of 4400 miles which would have the possibility of hitting Alaska. The North Koreans set the rocket off just hours before the president spoke of global nuclear disarmament in Prague. This action from North Korea defies UN Security Council Resolution 1718 which was adopted in 2006 which prohibited any ballistic missile activity in North Korea.

This event only falls into the broader aspect of President Obama’s speech in Prague proclaiming global nuclear disarmament. Both North Korea and Iran have been in the development stages of producing weapons grade material to use in nuclear weapons. With both of these regimes being hostile to not only the United States but also to their neighboring countries, what would the solution be for these two programs? These regimes are utterly dangerous and pose a serious threat to any effort towards peace in their regions of the world. But how are we to react?

Should they be allowed to continue production of weapons when they hold such hostile views of their neighbors? My answer is no. If they are allowed to produce these weapons, are we to wait until someone is hit with one of their ballistic missiles or preempt such action from even happening? One of the programs which has been developing and implemented over the last three decades is a Missile Defense Program. This is a system of land, sea, and air-based installations that would allow for a possible projectile to be shot down during the three different stages of the trajectory. This of course is effective in the event that such an action is taking place where a ballistic missile is launched successfully. But President Obama is looking to cut missile defense spending amongst other defense measures.

Is this the answer when we know that Mahmoud Ahmadinijad of Iran and Kim Jong Il of North Korea harbor ill feelings toward other nations and in the case of the President of Iran, wishes to “wipe Israel off the map”?

In the case of North Korea, NORAD confirmed that the three stages of the missile launch did not reach orbiting distance and did not deliver a satellite. This was seen as a missile launch in breech of UN Security Council resolutions. Should we sit back in inaction and allow the Security Council to apply sanctions? We know how well sanctions worked in Iraq, Saddam Hussein found ways around them and continued weapons development. Hard action is needed and time is limited until their Nuclear proliferation is successful and they develop nuclear weapons. Time is running out for hard, strong action.