China's Nuclear Warning and Iran

(Wall Street Journal) Editorial - In February, Chinese officials warned a group of Americans that North Korea has many more nuclear warheads than previously believed: up to 20 already, perhaps 40 by next year. The North Koreans had no such capability when they signed the 1994 Agreed Framework with the Clinton administration, which required them to stop their nuclear-weapons efforts. The deal the Obama administration is now negotiating with Tehran looks to be incorporating the same mistakes. The Iran deal also has many more moving parts, making it considerably more difficult to enforce. Iran and North Korea have extensive diplomatic and military ties, with Pyongyang helping supply the Iranians with ballistic-missile technology and hosting Iranian scientists at its nuclear tests. Nobody should rule out the possibility that a portion of Pyongyang's growing stockpile may someday come into Iranian hands. Which is a stark reminder that the consequences of misbegotten arms-control with one dictatorship are rarely limited to that dictatorship.


2015-04-24 00:00:00

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