How big a threat is North Korea?

North Korea’s recent nuclear test has again raised concerns that the country may illicitly contribute to nuclear proliferation. In a Christian Science Monitor article, Daniel Pinkston of the Ploughshares-funded International Crisis Group says North Korea is unlikely to provide nuclear assistance or devices to nonstate terrorist groups like Al Qaeda, due to the difficulties of such a transaction. He added that if the goal of such a group was a bomb, the design of choice is a uranium bomb, which North Korea has not yet produced.  "You can't rule it out, but I think it's a low-probability event," Pinkston says. "If you are interested in cash or cooperation, why would you bother with that?"