TEL AVIV Ñ An Israeli think tank sees North Korea's disclosure of its nuclear program as the end of the myth of arms control.
"There's lots of scientific exchanges between North Korea and such
countries as Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt and Libya," Gerald Steinberg, a
leading Israeli strategist and professor at Bar-Ilan University, said.
Steinberg, who directs a center on arms control, said North Korea's
nuclear weapons capability stems from Pakistan. He said Pyongyang could
transfer this capability to a range of countries in the Middle East, Middle East Newsline reported.
"This was the last nail in the coffin of arms control," Steinberg said.
"We have to get used to the fact that several countries, including those in
the Middle East, will have nuclear weapons."
Steinberg called on Israel to revise its deterrence model that would
take into account several nuclear powers in the Middle East. He said such a
model would be based on mutual-assured destruction, similar to the doctrine
that characterized the Cold War.
In Cairo, Egypt's state-owned media supported North Korea's nuclear
weapons program. The state-owned Al Ahram daily, regarded as the mouthpiece
of the regime in Cairo, said North Korea's nuclear program could end
Israel's nuclear monopoly.
Israeli strategists said North Korea's admission of its nuclear weapons
capability is meant to warn the United States that Pyongyang could export
such technology to clients in the Middle East. They said Egypt, Iran, Iraq,
Libya and Syria have long sought shortcuts toward nuclear weapons.
Steinberg's assessment reflected the concern by Israeli military sources
that North Korea had transferred some of its nuclear weapons research
program to Iran to avoid U.S. detection. The sources said Pyongyang has
offered Iran technology in the enrichment of uranium to produce
weapons-grade fuel.
Iran is also said to have obtained technology and expertise on
constructing centrifuges required for the production of weapons-grade
uranium. Several centrifuges are already believed to be operating in Iran.
"The existence of North Korea's nuclear program, or of that of any other
such program, could well be the result of the absence of an international
plan to globally eliminate nuclear weapons," Al Ahram said. "It is the
product of the argument allowing certain countries sole monopoly over the
possession of mass destruction weapons, while others are left completely
undefended. A flagrant example here in the Middle East region is that of
Israel, a country with an unfettered access to Western technology and with a
nuclear program which stands to threaten its neighbours."
