U.S. Attack on Iran Risks Emboldening North Korea

“The U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities unfolded half a world away from North Korea. But for dictator Kim Jong Un, the attacks were a clear lesson: Nuclear weapons are critical for his survival,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The American and Israeli attacks likely hammered home for Kim how intertwined his country’s nuclear weapons are with the fate of his regime.”

“As such, the strikes potentially hardened his determination to hold on to—and expand—his nuclear arsenal as a deterrent to any attack on North Korea, security experts say. Kim can point to other countries, such as Iraq, Libya and Syria, whose nuclear ambitions invited military attacks aimed at stopping them from fully developing atomic weapons.”