WHAT TO DO ABOUT NORTH KOREA?

What to do about North Korea?

Nothing.

That's right. Nothing.

The failed test of the Taepodong-2 long-range ballistic missile on 4 July only proves that the North Koreans are, as yet, incapable of building a working ICBM that could deliver a nuclear warhead to a target in the United States. The test-firing of several short and middle-ranged missiles into the Sea of Japan only proves that they are still capable of hitting targets in the region, something we have known for many years. So, North Korea remains what it has been for decades, a diplomatically isolated, desperately poor, heavily armed regional threat. The recent missile tests do not change at all the current diplomatic dynamic. The United States should continue to press the North Koreans to come back to the six party talks concerning their nuclear program. The U.S. should not enter into one-on-one negotiations, or in any other way reward the regime's recent behavior. The U.S. should support a toughly worded United Nations resolution, although it will be no surprise when the Russians and Chinese refuse to go along with any real sanctions. Such sanctions are not terribly relevant, anyway, since you can't put much economic pressure on North Korea, which is almost completely cut off from the rest of the world and is really only dependent on one nation, China, to keep it from complete economic collapse. The Chinese, unwilling to risk the specter of millions of North Koreans crossing their borders in flight from such a collapse, will continue to provide aid to North Korea under almost any imaginable circumstances and despite any misbehavior by the regime, short of all-out war against either China or South Korea.

So, doing nothing or, at least, just maintaining the status quo, will not negatively impact our security or the security of our allies in the region, despite all the chest-thumping we are now hearing from the Administration's political opponents. Stay the course. Continue building anti-missile defenses for ourselves and with our Japanese allies. Continue advocating multilateral diplomacy. Continue waiting for Kim jong-il to die, or be deposed, whichever comes first.