As it often has in the past, the insular and totalitarian regime of North Korea is testing an American president. Pyongyang taunted President Obama’s predecessors with provocative missile launches. Now it’s raised the ante by shelling a South Korean island, which caused four deaths and 18 injuries. What’s more, the new document drop from WikiLeaks reveals another piece of the puzzle that Obama has known about since at least February: North Korea has reportedly supplied Iran with 19 powerful BM-25 missiles, which have a 2,000-mile range and could carry nuclear warheads as soon as Iran has them. This reckless behavior presents Obama with the most severe foreign policy challenge of his young presidency.
Obama’s handling of Iran does not inspire confidence about his resolve. In 2009, he was reluctant to embrace Iran’s Green Revolution, the first legitimate and popular uprising against the current regime in years, initially stating, “We do not interfere in Iran’s internal affairs.” The Iranian government, which reportedly had already been supporting Iraqi insurgents against American forces in Iraq, was emboldened to crush the protests. Now we know that the Iranians were working with North Korea to arm themselves at almost the exact same time this happened.
