Hillary Clinton Ratchets Up Pressure on North Korea's Nuclear Ambitions

Hillary Clinton's tour through Asia continued Thursday as she sought to win friends and influence people on the subject of North Korea's rapidly developing nuclear plans.

The Secretary of State's most recent remarks on the subject came as she addressed a security forum convened by the Association of South East Asian Nations. She called on ASEAN members to turn up the pressure on North Korea to de-nuclearize by enforcing U.N. sanctions against the state. In return for shelving its nuclear ambitions, Clinton has offered energy and economic help that North Korea needs.

North Korea's nuclear aspirations aren't worrying simply in and of themselves. Observers with an eye on the increasingly cozy camaraderie of North Korea and Myanmar are concerned that the former could share its nuclear arsenal. If nuclear assistance isn't available for "love," it might be available for money -- to Myanmar or other countries not yet members of the nuclear club. Even if North Korea keeps its nuclear program to itself, other powers in the region are unlikely to let an increasingly belligerent neighbor be the sole possessor of nuclear weapons, which could spark an arms race in East Asia.

Even if Clinton made any headway with ASEAN members, North Korea seems unimpressed. A statement released Thursday by North Korea references the Secretary of State's earlier comments on nuclear development and calls her "a funny lady as she likes to utter such rhetoric, unaware of the elementary etiquette in the international community. Sometimes she looks like a primary schoolgirl and sometimes a pensioner going shopping."