North Korea is the neighborhood bad boy of the Asian continent, and like all bad boys takes some pride in its ability to get attention by behaving in childish ways.
North Korea needs to be put in place
Unfortunately for all of us, the childish behavior of immature nation-states does not consist of loud cars, obnoxious gestures, and the occasional sucker punch.
Nonetheless, North Korea's psychology is rooted in the same principles that motivate the neighborhood bully. Both seek to compensate for an inferiority complex by making themselves the center of attention through intimidation. This implied threat might consist of throwing a firecracker at your back door, or it might consist of heaving a missile at your closest shore. Either way, the message is the same: Stop us if you can!
That is what we should remember when we respond to North Korea's failed test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile on Tuesday.
Fortunately it is not just the responsibility of the United States to stand up to this bully. As many neighborhoods have learned through the years, the only way to effectively shut down a bully is through concerted action.
President Bush has wisely insisted on a multilateral approach to negotiations with North Korea, insisting on including China, Russia, Japan and South Korea in the talks. Those countries are actually much more immediately threatened by the loudmouth antics of Pyongyang than the United States is, and they should - through a variety of historical and regional ties - have more influence than we do.
Unfortunately, China and Russia are still not convinced that it is time to get tough with the North Koreans. They are apparently prepared to veto a U.N. Security Council resolution that would ban nations from assisting the North's missile program. Instead, they wish to continue the diplomatic process that has led nowhere.
We understand the desire to avoid confrontation, but in this case there may be no alternative. North Korea has already proclaimed itself a nuclear-weapons state, and has said it would consider sanctions tantamount to a declaration of war. The trouble is that we have gotten into the current bind by letting North Korea intimidate the world community for years with its nasty threats. If we continue to let this rogue nation dictate terms to us, then we are bound to get more trouble, not less.
Indeed, the longer a confrontation is put off, the greater the threat that North Korea represents. Its nuclear ambitions will not go away on their own, but will grow. There will be more development of enriched uranium, and more missile tests. And eventually there will be a missile that can indeed reach the North American continent with a nuclear payload, instead of falling harmlessly into the Sea of Japan.
If North Korea wants to be a respected member of the world community, it needs to learn quickly that the bullying tactics of the schoolyard cannot succeed on the world stage.
No one is happy to see the hardships which the citizens of North Korea have had to endure for the past half century. But a solution won't be possible as long as Pyongyang is more interested in a fight than a fix.
Food aid, financial aid, and technological aid will all be readily available for the starving North if it just puts down its fists and extends its hand. And if it refuses, then it must accept responsibility for whatever unpleasantness comes.