Bolton: Expel North Korea from the U.N.

[Bolton] urged Obama’s team to first put North Korea back on the list of state sponsors of terrorism following its removal in the waning months of the Bush administration.  Bolton also urged the UN Security Council to expel Pyongyang from the world body as a “persistent violator” of UN resolutions.  [AFP]

The accusation is obviously true, and it could be justified for human rights reasons alone.

North Korea has also consistently stolen U.N. development and food aid and refused to cooperate with the U.N. human rights rapporteur.  While it’s always good to leave open channels of communication for those times when they’re actually useful, I’m not seeing the down side to this.  What actual good is there in having North Korea as a member of the United Nations in good standing that can’t be done by ad hoc envoys?  And considering that the U.N.’s former Special Envoy Tongsun Park was subsequently convicted of crimes related to the oil-for-food scandal, even that may also be a step too far.