World

More nuclear proliferation to worry the West: the prospect of the unpredictable Kim Il Sung with an A-bomb. Fears that North Korea might build one have escalated recently since U.S. spy satellites detected construction of what may be a nuclear reprocessing plant in Yongbyon, 56 miles north of the capital, Pyongyang. Such a unit would enable North Korea to produce plutonium, the raw ingredient for nuclear weapons.

Pyongyang has signed the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, but so far Kim's government has refused to fulfill its obligation to allow inspections. Washington has repeatedly asked Moscow to use its relationship with Kim to bring him around; U.S. officials say the Soviets promise to keep pushing Pyongyang to comply but reportedly add that their influence over the eccentric Kim is strictly limited.