NORTH Korea has crossed two red lines. It has admitted, for the first time, that it possesses nuclear weapons and intends to keep building them. Moreover, the unravelling of the Pakistan-based A.Q. Khan network has apparently proved that North Korea sold enriched uranium that ended up in Libya. Alexander Downer's spokesman says that Australia "places a lot of faith" in the six-party talks that North Korea has just walked out of. Let's hope that's just diplomatic pablum.It's time to face facts. The US cannot live with a nuclear-armed North Korea that is not only a menace to its neighbours, but also willing to sell fissile material to other rogue states and terrorist groups. This president is not going to let that happen on his watch. And Australia has vital interests at stake, not least because a nuclear-armed North Korea will eventually be able to threaten us with missiles. That's an illustration of the fact that serious threats can arise far from our shores. The North Korean nuclear problem, bubbling away for more than a decade, cannot be resolved by diplomatic means. Nuclear weapons are vital for regime survival. They will not be abandoned, whatever incentives are offered. And North Korea has an unmatched record of lying and cheating. So the key to resolution of this crisis without war is to convince China that it must now pull the plug on Pyongyang.
That means convincing Beijing that its current behaviour is contrary to its own long-term interests. China, in seeking to point North Korea at the US and Japan, helped arm it with missile technology. Worse, there is reason to think that China's military has been involved with the A.Q. Khan network. It seems likely that Michael Green, senior director for Asia on the National Security Council, presented this evidence to President Hu Jintao at their recent meeting. Presumably it came as no surprise. But China has succeeded only in creating a Frankenstein's monster in North Korea. A "borrowed knife" strategy always entails the risk that the knife might not remain under control. China has been unable to control North Korea, or prevent it from acting in ways that injure China's own interests. That is particularly so in relation to Japan, which has so far remained content to rely on the American nuclear umbrella. But given North Korea's missile-rattling and explicit threats to Japan, China cannot be sure that North Korea will not provoke the nuclear armament of Japan. Indeed, the governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara, is a prominent hawk. He is also a Gaullist who has argued for three decades that no country can afford to entrust another with its nuclear security.