WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- North Korea's Oct. 9 nuclear test was a cry for help from a frightened regime, said the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
"It's a cry for help, in my view," Mohammed El Baradei said Monday in a speech at Georgetown University. "I think from the North Korean perspective it's a cry for help. It is the only trump card they have, which is the nuclear issue. The feel, rightly or wrongly, that they are isolated. They feel that they are not getting the security assurance they would like to see. They see that from their perspective it is a question of regime survival, and for them the test is to say, 'We could be -- we could do more harm, you know, if you don't come and talk to us.'"
"North Korea is saying, 'We have neighbors who are either nuclear weapon states or either -- sitting under a nuclear umbrella, and why can't we do the same? Maybe that would be our way to protect ourselves, to provide ourselves with a shield,' and then to start negotiating from a position of (strength)," he said. "We might think that their perception of their security or insecurity is misplaced, but it's ...either a question of security or it's a question of trying to influence or project influence. In the case of Korea, it's a question of security."
El Baradei said nuclear non-proliferation in Asia can hold unless it is diplomatically bungled, but warned that a second North Korean nuclear test could compel Japan and South Korea to develop their own nuclear weapons rather than rely on American assurances for deterrence. They now face a nuclear China and North Korea, as well as Pakistan and India.
