Or Else, What?

Update: Or else, we’ll give you a time-out!

Even a very angry letter seems too much for the “United” Nations, an institution whose very name moves it into laughingstock territory these days.

South Korea nearly managed to say nothing for a whole week, but then broke its silence long enough to play the role of dutiful North Korean enabler and Chinese lap-dog, opposing any binding sanctions. Americans are entitled to wonder why their soldiers are in harm’s way to protect one Chinese possession from another.

At the border between North Korea and China, it’s business as usual. Japan has suspended port calls for a ferry that makes an occasional trip between Wonsan and Niigata. It is reportedly considering banning imports of North Korean seafood and exports of Japanese cash to the North, but has done little else since its U.N. sanctions resolution stalled. That’s more than can be said for the United States, which has done nothing whatsoever thus far.

North Korea seems especially confident:

North Korea’s reclusive leader Kim Jong-il said that his country will not make “even a small concession” to the “U.S. imperialistic aggressors,” as Washington and Tokyo are seeking sanctions on the communist state over its barrage of missile tests, the North’s state media reported Sunday.

“Kim declared that even a small concession wouldn’t be made to the sworn-enemy U.S. imperialistic aggressors,” the North’s Koran Central Broadcasting Station said in an editorial, monitored in Seoul.

“Kim announced a heroic DPRK position, in which it promised to answer to an enemy’s retaliation with retaliation and to an all-out war with an all-out war. That is not empty words,” the radio station said. DPRK refers to the North’s official name, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Ignoring repeated warnings by Washington and Tokyo, Pyongyang test-launched seven missiles Wednesday.

These recent threats did at least inspire Seoul to keep the airplanes out of reach of the rabid dog, denying it a few more scraps of meat. Whatever the reason he did it, Kim Jong Il’s predictions that the “international community” would fold like a cheap suit are proving correct, at least as things stand now. It bears repeated emphasis that these sanctions are only designed to impede progress on one of North Korea’s WMD programs, which is why the frustration of the Japanese Foreign Minister is so understandable:

Japan, which sits within easy range of North Korean missiles, said Sunday it won’t compromise on the U.N. resolution, which it submitted Friday to the Security Council. The proposal prohibits nations from procuring missiles or missile-related “items, materials goods and technology” from North Korea, or from transferring financial resources connected to the North’s program.

“To compromise because of one country which has veto power, even though most other countries support us, sends the wrong message,” Aso told national broadcaster NHK. “We can’t alter our stance.”

More:

Austin Bay: The Python Strategy: North Korea in the Squeeze (linking this must-read in the Times of London).