What I've heard (NPR and BBC) is that the N Koreans probably had help - specifically in replacing the plutonium program they agreed to stop with the uranium enrichment they've just admitted to - from Pakistan, who already has more sophisticated nuclear weapons. Why would either Iraq or al-Qaeda go thousands of extra miles to deal with an infidel? For a better price?

That transfer scenario has a couple of problems: if what NK has is a Fat Boy, or something close, it's going to be difficult squeezing it into a sub in the first place (unless somebody here knows something about cargo hatches, not to mention empty space, on submarines...). Then of course the sub has to surface "somewhere in the Pacific" to be offloaded. My guess is, there are a lot more eyes and ears monitoring shipping and radio traffic now than there were before September 2001.

What I think, non-expert that I am, is if the PRK made actual weapons in addition to the development progam they confessed to, they had no clear idea of when, where or how to use them. They have them just to say they have them. National pride, you know - it doesn't feed anybody, but it's about all they have left.