Is Kim Jong Il following in the footsteps of Moammar Khaddafy, the Libyan leader who helped rat out A.Q. Khan, the head of a Pakistani nuclear ring?

That is to say, is the North Korean leader seeing the light on collaborating with the West?

That’s the latest speculation on the bizarre case of an alleged Israeli air raid on a remote area of Syria early last month. Mystery has surrounded the Sept. 6 raid, in which Syria says its air defenses opened fire on Israeli warplanes. One scenario has it that Israeli planes bombed a suspected nuclear facility in Syria allegedly being built with the help of North Korea. Both Syria and North Korea deny any such collaboration.

Washington has also been surprisingly mum on the nature of the alleged attack.

So here goes the latest speculation: Just as Khaddafy won the good graces of the West by spilling the beans on the A.Q. Khan nuclear network, getting Libya out of the diplomatic doghouse, Kim Jong Il has now offered Washington the list of the buyers of its nuclear technology, including Syria. The Bush administration turned around and gave the info to Jerusalem, which sent the jetfighters scrambling to bomb the alleged nuclear site in Syria.

This speculation comes at the website of Stratfor, a subscription global intelligence outfit, whose reports are not always, er, on target. It was picked up at the China Matters blog, where I learned of it.

Nonetheless, the theory goes that North Korea is signaling to the United States, with which it dearly wants to weave a closer diplomatic relationship, that it can provide info of value. After all, North Korea is not entirely desirous of maintaining only one strategic ally, China. It would be more than happy to play China and the United States off each other.

There are many possible holes in this theory. North Korea has few ways to earn hard currency. Why would Pyongyang destroy relations with one of its few remaining customers for military/nuclear technology? What happens if the six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear program break down again? North Korea will be more penniless than ever.