Rogue and the State Department

Might all this suffice to re-enroll North Korea on Washington’s list of terror-sponsoring states? If such a move might seem largely symbolic, it is symbolism that apparently matters to the North Korean regime, which demanded removal from the list as a U.S. concession at the nuclear bargaining table. It was a deft bit of nuclear extortion, and to whatever extent nuclear extortion succeeds, we can expect more of it.

There’s a judgment call to be made here by President Obama and the State Department. Amid the current landscape of North Korean nuclear-test threats, plus the Iran nuclear talks, now would be a good moment to re-list North Korea as a terror-sponsoring state. Along with reflecting the dangerous realities, it would be a low-cost marker that the U.S. might finally be losing patience with being snookered at the nuclear bargaining table — action for action, step by step.

Ms. Rosett is journalist-in-residence with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and heads its Investigative Reporting Project.

Posted in Citizens Duty, DOJ, DC and inside the Beltway, Insurgency, Iran Israel, Libya Benghazi Muslim Brotherhood murder, Middle East, Terror.

Denise Simon