'The sun will still come up tomorrow'. Given the nuclear test by North Korea I'm not sure this is an assumption anybody should be making. A catastrophe such as this is the very event that should put the United Nations on notice that now is the time to act without flexibility, ambiguity or half-heartedness.

The slaughter in Darfur and Rwanda wasnt enough for the United Nations to authorise military action. To date the famine, mass murder and gross abuses in North Korea have been out of 'sight and out of mind'. However when is enough really enough? When is 'talking' just prolonging the inevitable? Perhaps it will take another explosion and the dispersal of radioactivity all over China and Russia for those states to be stung into action.

However in my view immediate naval blockades of all North korean ports should be put in place- thus ensuring the lunatic that has ruined that country does not take receipt of further weapons. Gas, oil and food sanctions of the strongest variety must be imposed to jolt the repressed peoples of North korea into action. And, when that action comes, the United Nations should be waiting on the borders to enter North Korea and unify the two koreas.

China will never be hostile to North Korea.

The notion is ridiculous, and i wont even bother to explain why, we all know.

That's America's answer to everything. Sanctions or invasion. Sanctions have never worked. It is hypocritical to dictate nuclear policies to other nations when you own over 5000 nukes yourself. Why kill thousands of innocent civilians by depriving them of much needed resources just to try and teach their Government a lesson? It only makes their leader more determined anyway.

Nobody wants to live under American control and your own nuclear arsenal really is the only defensive option against a bullying nation like America. Not that America would really invade. Last time they tried the N.Korean army kicked their butts. Bringing the UN into the conflict and advancing on the Yellow River brought the Chinese into the fray and once against the Americans were sent packing.

In WW2 sanctions against Japan forced that country to bomb Pearl Harbour as a warning to back off. When will America learn to stop interfering in the affairs of other countries?

Wayne- you have got to be joking.

What 'government' are you referring to? Is that the one that starves, tortures and ignores the plight of its populace while ploughing billions into weapons? If this is the 'government' of North Korea you refer to, it certainly isnt the people's government. In addition how did the 'North Korean' army kick anybody's 'butt'? It was Chinese resorces and support for North Korea that stopped General Doug from marching into China and nothing else.

But, without getting side tracked, it astonishes me that not even a nuclear explosion (no matter how small) is enough to persuade the lefties out there that military action should at least be considered. Does this mean that even if the US had marched into Iraq and found a nuclear bomb, the Iraq conflict still wouldnt have been justified? Putting aside 'the smoking gun' issue for a second, what use is there for the UN if it refuses to, or is stymied from taking action? After Rwanda, Kofi Annan said never again. Well Darfur is 'again'. North Korea has been 'again' for decades.

All the previous diplomacy with North Korea has done is allowed its regime to develop weaponry and become accustomed to the high life while prolonging the misery of its desperate population. North Korea cannot be compared with Iraq under Sadam in any case. The South Koreans have been trying for years to reunify the two countries and would be more than willing to enter the north with the support of the security council. The population of the north would almost undoubtedly welcome the south and Kim Jong Il could be removed. How could this possibly be a bad development?

Wayne,
That's enough outdated philosophy, that is 20th century thinking mate, your still working on logic and common sense. Get with it man, this is the 21st century. The U.S.A. IS THE BOSS, they have a born again Christian as leader, "thou shalt not kill" is meaningless, the world has been turned upside down, inside out, and back to front.

I hope I have enlightened you mate, so you will cease and desist with the logic and common sense, although I must say I agree with you100%.

You are right Realist, China is playing its own game, and who can blame them, seeing the way they were treated so unjustly by our Western capitalisic racketeers over the Boxer Rebellion as well as trying to deaden their minds with Western grown opium.

They are in such a good bargaining position right now, especially with us Aussies so delighted with them paying top dollars for our ore pit outputs.

Indeed, it could be a real test on Johnny Howard's neo-19th century statemanship style he's been getting away with. But the Chinese have their 19th century memories too.

wre,
Which government are we talking about here, the one that spends billions on weapons while their people starve it might be a very true statement to make about the U.S.A. but they are our allies mate, settle down.

1. The UN cannot launch a damn war against anyone - the UN by it's very definition is about keeping peace and they don't have an army. So how many nations want to send soldiers to blow up Korea? I would suggest none after the debacle of Iraq and the horror of Afghanistan and now Lebanon.
2. The US and UK have spread tonnes of depleted uranium all over the middle east and Balkans in the name of "interventions" and this wretched stuff will kill and maim for generations to come.
3. Lebanon has been blanketed with over 1 million US supplied cluster bombs thanks to a temper tantrum by Israel - that is the equivalent of ethnic cleansing.
4. It is reported today that the Israeli's trialed a new weapon in Gaza strip that takes off legs and burns and does not stop burning people.
5. Now we get to starving populations - 5.5 million Afghans while we fiddle, 2 million Palestinians while we lead the cheer squad, 50% of our nearest neighbours in East Timor are hungry, millions of Africans while we spend weapons on new bombs and illegally invade other nations.

Let's say North Korea make one bomb. The US used two. We sell most of the world's uranium.

I am sick to death of the self-righteous whining of men who just love to kill.

I's impressed by the moderate and experienced tone of your article. A useful supplement to http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=5001 which also highlighted China's central position.

Its too easy to become alarmed over this issue rather than see it as a continuation of a weapons development process which has gone on for around 30 years.

The problem with North Korea for all powers (eg. US, Russia and China) has been "how can you handle it and tell it what to do?"

North Korea is so recalcitrant and driven by an odd dynasty (a father and son team from its inception in the 1940s) that creative strategies are needed to deal with it.

Now that North Korea allegedly has several nuclear weapons not even the nuclear threat is effective against it due to it possibly retaliating.

Probably pressure from Russia and China for North Korea to persuade North Korea to conform is the best way to go. The approach may be carrot and a little stick.

This should be more effective then the election linked posturing of Bush and the neocons.

I'd agree with the content of the article. China is the key to this issue.

I sincerely doubt naval blockades would put any pressure on the North Korean regime. As I understand it, they receive little by way of imports by sea.

Direct military intervention isn't going to happen any time soon. It would take extraordinary measures by the North Koreans to trigger those kind of reactions. That is probably why they have done this.

China on the other hand, holds the keys here. What's more, they haven't instituted the diplomatic exclusion that has been implemented by most elements of the West.

China has the incentives, the lines of communication and I would argue, the resolve, to handle this situation, at least, as much as it can be handled.

Whether or not they decide this is in their interest is another question. I would say at this point that China will probably back whatever marginally effective sanctions program the US comes up with, though I'm less optimistic about them taking matters further.

After reading the A Confucian Daoist Millennium by Reg Little, I am sure China will not respond.

I think it is quite a baffling problem.

North Korea is kept alive by China. If the Chinese cut food and energy supplies, they'll be flooded with refugees.

Even without a bomb the military is not an option, Seoul can be flattened by conventional artillery, it is that close to the border.

What is worse if we apply sanctions, selling bombs to terrorists may be the only way to hard currency for the regime.

Let's just have a look at why they got a bomb. The US steadfastly refused to offer a peace treaty to the North Koreans even though praatically we are at peace. North Korea has been consistently named as a member of the axis of evil. After the Iraq war it is hardly surprising that the remnants of the axis of evil are searching for security in wmds.

What if we offered a Cuba style deal? We keep our hands off if they give up their weapons. "Appeasement?!, remember Munich", I hear you say. I don't think North Korea has designs on their neighbours. In their new found security they may be able to get the economy going and perhaps reunite with Sth Korea. Libya got normal relations in exchange for ending their wmd program.

What can China do? Send in the army? Risk getting nuked? End up with a border with a western country? Both armies haven't been in a war for decades so it is a very high risk option. Apply sanctions and get flooded by refugees? Worse have them sell weapons to terrorists.?

If Nth Korea wanted to be agressive they could have flattened Seoul decades ago. I don't think they would do a first strike. They do have a record of counterfeiting money, selling drugs and selling bombs would fit in with that record. We just got to bite the bullet, swallow our pride and remove the reason for them to sell nukes.

I find it very difficult to reconcile how posters can compare the United States and North Korea. Has it really become so fashionable to 'US bash' that all traces of objectivity have disappeared in the process? Sure American foreign policy around the world and in North East Asia has left much to be desired. However drawing comparisons between Bush and Kim Jong Il , no matter how 'trendy' it is to do so, is an afront to the plight of North Koreans first and foremost.

China will not act now, not because it isnt extremely worried, but because it does not want to have to deal with the starving refugees that would poor out of North Korea and into China if regime change was brought about. China knows better than anyone else what Kim Jong Il is capable of, hence the use of diplomatic language this week that has even shocked the US. However, the last thing China wants is its industrial progress and olympic planning interrupted by 40 million tormented souls from North Korea.

What I find astonishing is that nobody seems to care that the UN just keeps on failing- this is in fact one of the major reasons for all the America 'bashing' we see. Dont think for a second that every member of the security council, and indeed the general assembly doesnt have its own agenda, and constantly questioning the motives of America has caused most to overlook the motives of China, france and Russia in particular.

If China and Russia were serious about global security, they would march into NK from the north and meet the United States and South Korea in the middle. But russia is too busy getting away with murder in Chechnya and Georgia, and China has Khartoum to buy oil from. So who really cares about nuclear explosions, genocide and torture? The price the UN pays for peace is too high.

No single country can be entrusted today for solution any vital problem of the world.North Korea has become a nuclear power today;but world wants not be worried due to the cause of such violation as happened.Ofcourse such violation of world order happened earlier that might be the reason or proactive factor for North Korea.To avoid such catastrophe White House in USA discussed whether there is ncessary to build up new order in American diplomacy.China and other developed countries will be allowed to play the ball instead of USA at forefront.