It is still unclear whether North Korea indeed tested a hydrogen bomb, as it proclaimed on Wednesday, but one thing is certain: Pyongyang successfully detonated a nuclear bomb for the fourth time since 2006, provoking and mocking the world yet again. Our problem here in Israel is that although the test was conducted far away in North Korea, we may very well see the consequences in Iran. North Korea's fourth nuclear test is "another achievement" for U.S. President Barack Obama. Two days before Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un's birthday, the dictatorship boasted it had detonated a hydrogen bomb. Based on seismological figures, experts highly doubt that it was indeed a hydrogen bomb, but that is beside the point: Even if it was a weaker bomb, the latest test needs to trigger alarm bells because it illustrates the extent to which Washington struggles to read North Korea. It also demonstrates the lack of deterrence posed by Washington. Furthermore, it shows the world the worth of a nuclear deal signed with a hostile and dangerous regime whose primary goal is its own survival. In this case, the rest of the world, not Obama, will need to pick up the pieces. In a few months, Kim is expected to convene his first congress. Wednesday's nuclear test is the grand achievement he intends to present to his country's leadership class. He wants to show that his country is capable of deterring external forces. North Korea's nuclear arsenal is essentially the regime's insurance policy. The name of the game for the regimes in North Korea and Iran is survival. For those interested in finding the similarities, former U.S. president Bill Clinton signed a nuclear deal with North Korea -- and the world received a North Korean bomb. Iran and North Korea both desire a nuclear arsenal and both have signed supposed nuclear deals with the West, and both are simultaneously developing ballistic missile systems that should trigger warning bells. In December, Pyongyang test-fired a ballistic missile from a submarine. This doesn't just threaten South Korea and Japan but the United States as well. Since it signed the nuclear deal with Western powers in Vienna on July 14, Iran has also conducted ballistic missile tests. One wonders whether the Obama administration considers ballistic missile tests a gesture of goodwill. Meanwhile, the fact that North Korea has successfully continued to develop its nuclear program needs to arouse concern, because it harbors no reservations about exporting its nuclear expertise. For those who have forgotten, Libya under Moammar Gadhafi (before he was frightened off by the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003) and Syria under Bashar Assad both imported North Korean nuclear know-how. Imagine for a moment Assad or Gadhafi with nuclear weapons. The big question is what the world will do. The U.N. Security Council convened an emergency meeting. What should be done? Should sanctions be imposed? This tool has been proven ineffective against the North Koreans. It is imperative for the international community to take a tougher stance against North Korea. Now that the bully has been allowed to build some muscle it is far more difficult to confront him. Now he can flex, as he did in 2006, 2009, 2013 and now again in 2016, the first week of which seems very "promising" indeed.
