Let's Be Clear

North Korea tested a nuclear weapon because of learned behavior. Any proclaimed enemy of the United States simply had to look at the way the world has worked since September 11, and they would know exactly how to react. The countries on the enemies list that didn't have WMD were overrun (Afghanistan). The countries that did were given lavish gifts (Libya). The countries that were "suspected" of having them either got attacked (Iraq) or tough talk (Iran), depending on how close to nuclear weapons they actually were.

So there is a sliding scale from benevolence to belligerence based entirely on the progress of your nuclear weapons program. North Korea looked at the lay of the land and decided they had to have a nuclear weapon, or else they would suffer the consequences of Iraq, its fellow resident in the Axis of Evil. Every time the United States has provoked North Korea they have done something like this. This is in direct opposition to how they were handled in the past:

In 1993, North Korea announced it would pull out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, leaving it free to divert nuclear material from its energy reactors to make a nuclear weapon and setting off a round of crisis diplomacy led by the Clinton administration. The result was the so-called agreed framework, which - in return for supplies of fuel oil to North Korea - froze most aspects of Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme for the rest of the decade.

The agreed framework was in effect consigned to history when the Bush administration came to power in 2001. The new administration argued that although the road to a plutonium-based nuclear bomb had been frozen, the North Koreans were cheating by attempting to develop a uranium-based bomb that was not explicitly addressed by the agreement.

That five years later, North Korea has tested a nuclear weapon will be widely interpreted as a sign of the failure of the tougher approach favoured by the Bush team.

The Bush Administration forced the North Koreans' hand, and by refusing to any negotiations, forced the North Koreans to make big explosions to get attention. I recoil at suggestions that we somehow deserved 9-11 because of our actions; the list of grievances from radical Islamists is too long to place blame on one country's foreign policy. The Islamists certainly say that, and use it to rile up their citizenry, but I don't take them at their word. But our actions with regard to North Korea MOST CERTAINLY have produced this response. The correlation is direct and damning. Two nations with unfavorable views to the United States are poised to go nuclear on this President's watch.

Feel safer?

UPDATE: Josh Marshall says something very similar, albeit with much more detail and richness. Do read to get a sense of the history.