Warming Burma-North Korean relations raise an uncomfortable question for the Obama administration: Is America running out of foreign policy levers?

Analysis

North Korea and Burma are coming together out of necessity. Their rapprochement is proceeding quickly despite past breaches, the most dramatic being an incident when North Korean agents planted a bomb in Rangoon that killed members of a high-level South Korean delegation in 1983. The reasons behind the pair’s newfound closeness are simple: economic necessity and a chronic desire for regime security.

For North Korea, the Burmese connection is an opportunity to circumvent some of the more burdensome aspects of international sanctions. The Burmese military junta wants missiles, weapons, and technical expertise, and the North Korean leadership will happily exchange them for food, rubber, and gold.  Since both parties are willing to use barter trade, they can circumvent their shared foreign exchange concerns.

Alternatively, the Burmese government views a close relationship with North Korea as a source of weapons that are crucial for protecting the regime from internal and external threats.  Burma has been purchasing North Korean weapons both before and after the resumption of official diplomatic ties in 2007, frequently under the guise of North Korean ships docking in Burma to seek shelter from storms.