For someone who lived through the Cold War between the U.S. and Russia only to see nuclear threats renewed in the new millennium by North Korea, Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he’s very frustrated by recent developments with that Asian nation. Grassley says the only encouraging thing is that other countries are reacting to North Korea’s atomic threats with the same disdain as the U.S.
Grassley says “Yesterday, for the first time, there seemed to be a united effort on the part of the U-N Security Council to be concerned about this. What action will be taken by the Security Council still hasn’t been decided. I don’t know. Except for economic sanctions, I have nothing to offer.” He says North Korea is “thumbing its nose” at the rest of the world by continuing to develop a nuclear arsenal and he says steps need to be taken to halt that deadly production line.
Grassley says “Economic sanctions would be very important because through trade, we know that North Korea’s involved in money laundering, counterfeiting American money, drug trades, everything to raise money for their regime so that they can buy from other countries ingredients to make a nuclear bomb.” He says the key is cash and in stopping the influx of radioactive components and missile technology.
Grassley says “Since they are dependent upon other countries for some of the resources they need for their new saber-rattling, it seems to me that economic sanctions and restrictions on trade would be a very important way to bring them under control.”
Grassley says the “pussyfooting” that was going on during the Clinton administration’s years in power to rely on the good faith of North Korea allowed the U.S. to be “hoodwinked.” President Bush is calling the North Korean nuclear test “a threat to international peace and security.”