Reprocessing Talk

There was a collective sigh earlier this month when Pyongyang finally agreed to sit down with the U.S. and China to negotiate a possible end to North Korea's nuclear program. Finally, it seemed, the threat posed by unstable dictator Kim Jong Il holding his finger over the button was about to be defused. This week, however, North Korea reminded the world how perilous Dear Leader dealings were by announcing it had begun reprocessing spent nuclear fuel rods into weapons-grade plutonium.

Starting up the reprocessing facility at the Yongbyon nuclear plant...