Monday, Nov. 22, 1993

Inside Washington the Gravest Threat: Dealing with North Korea's Nuclear Program

Last week on Meet the Press, President Clinton pointedly declined to rule out any "specific options" on how he might militarily deal with North Korea's advancing nuclear-weapons program. But Time has learned that Clinton Administration officials have studied -- and dismissed -- the possibility of launching an air strike to wipe out the communist regime's nuclear program. The locations of North Korea's nuclear reactors are known, but analysis has shown they could not be destroyed without releasing unacceptable levels of radioactivity that could spread through East Asia. With the surgical-air- strike option now off the table, diplomatic pressure and economic embargoes, ineffective so far, are the chief remaining options.

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