Media Reaction - Editorials on DPRK nuclear testing

UNCLAS STOCKHOLM 000312 SIPDIS SECSTATE FOR INR/R/MR, EUR/PPD, EUR/NB, EUR/PA, EUR/FO E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO PINS PHUM PREF EUN SW SUBJECT: Media Reaction - Editorials on DPRK nuclear testing ¶I. On May 26, the independent conservative Stockholm morning daily Svenska Dagbladet's main editorial opined on the nuclear test carried out by DPRK on Monday under the headline 'Bomb Golden Opportunity for Rouge State': "The detonation is the culmination of the latest crisis between the international community and the communist regime in Pyongyang. In April, North Korea tested a long distance missile, which led to international protests. This resulted in North Korea throwing out the UN inspectors and reopening the closed reactor in Yongbyon. And then there was another explosion.... "The world's condemnations come pouring in and the UN Security Council will probably also make sharp statements. Barking is easy. It is considerably harder to act in a concrete manner and formulate a policy that bites. During the years the world, in particular the United States, has sometimes acted with the whip (sanctions) and sometimes the carrot (aid). Sometimes it has also appeared that there could be an end to the nuclear threat and as late as last fall, President Bush removed North Korea from the American list of terrorist states. But it was, in other words, not better late than never.... "North Korea has previously created a storm with the only aim of gaining economic and political advantages. That could also be the case this time. Maybe they want to test what President Obama is really made of. Nobody knows. The one thing that is certain is that the regime is completely unpredictable and that the bomb provides a golden opportunity in relations with the world.... "In reality there's no other option to try and lure North Korea back to the negotiating table and hope that a new leadership will take a less solitary road. One possibility is also that the regime simply collapses. North Korea is a nightmare that continues to be a reality, making it important to put the foot down so that Iran does not also pass the phase in the nuclear arms process after which there is no return." II. The independent liberal Stockholm morning daily "Dagens Nyheter" published a signed op-ed by Lisa Bjurwald 'Dangerous Becomes More Dangerous': "Provocation and confrontation appear to be the new catch words for Pyongyang, and the threat against world peace has suddenly increased significantly.... "So what does the communist regime really want to say with the detonation - except 'fear us'? According to disarmament experts the nuclear explosion was an aggressive method to demand the attention of the new American Administration. Political analysts in the region point out that the intended audiences are rather within the dictatorship's borders, where tougher generals are believed to have taken over domestic politics.... "Both of these aspects probably play a part, and the conclusion becomes that the regime in Pyongyang - no matter how much the world condemns it - has become too dangerous to be ignored. Now all efforts must be made to resume the so-called six-party talks with Japan, China, South Korea, Russia and the United States that the dictatorship left in April, and that aim at getting the country to abandon its nuclear arms program. Unfortunately, the chances for success right now appear minimal." SILVERMAN