The Neverending Problem of North Korea

So North Korea is doing some more saber-rattling again. I remember when there was even more hand-wringing in fear of a full blown war with North Korea in 1994 when the rogue country was poised to eject international monitors from the country and begin reprocessing plutonium for belligerent purposes. But Jimmy Carter wonderfully (a little sarcasm here) came to the rescue and brokered an agreement for the Clinton administration where the United States would pony up economic aid in exchange for the suspension of North Korean nuclear weapons program. Yup, that really worked well. Forgive my frustration with idiotic diplomacy, but at least I'm a little less harsh and cynical than a past editorial which was as timely in 2006 as it is today.

In fairness, there's plenty of bipartisan blame to go around, as referenced in an analysis from the Washington Post. There's evidence that unilateral pressure and engagement without the cooperation of all the other UN Security Council members (especially China) has failed. There's also evidence that six-party talks leading to unkept assurances are similarly fruitless - a sentiment voiced recently by Secretary of State Clinton. 

So pundits will continue to state the obvious, as a recent Newsweek article did: that there needs to be appropriate balance "carrots" and "sticks". Nobody reasonable would advocate a military action without sufficiently allowing room for diplomacy to work. But I think it's about time to realize that UN Security Council condemnations without any corresponding meaningful actions and statements of "outrage" have historically been grossly ineffective - just like past "negotiated treaties" which are taken as seriously as Paulie Shore. So people at the State Department and the Obama administration will try to try to rationally deal with those who are irrational.

Not at all to minimize the seriousness of a potential sale of weaponized atomic material to other rogue nations or groups or a direct attack from North Korea on any of the United States' allies, but two things come to mind:

• The old article from The Onion: "North Korean Nukes Self In Desperate Plea For Attention"

• This dialogue from the movie "Team America: World Police", which seems to lampoon well the idea that stern condemnations will bring the North Korean nuclear program to a screeching halt:
  

Kim Jong Il: Hans Brix? Oh no! Oh, herro. Great to see you again, Hans! 

Hans Blix: Mr. Il, I was supposed to be allowed to inspect your palace today, but your guards won't let me enter certain areas. 

Kim Jong Il: Hans, Hans, Hans! We've been frew this a dozen times. I don't have any weapons of mass destwuction, OK Hans? 

Hans Blix: Then let me look around, so I can ease the UN's collective mind. I'm sorry, but the UN must be firm with you. Let me in, or else. 

Kim Jong Il: Or else what? 

Hans Blix: Or else we will be very angry with you... and we will write you a letter, telling you how angry we are!

Sometimes, you just have to laugh at things. I suspect the North Koreans are.