Firing words without sting

Perhaps having been suitably perturbed by its previous inanity while attempting to flex nuclear muscle – a missile launch last month failed in the middle of three phases – North Korea hitched its drab-green britches, shook fists and pressed buttons again over the holiday weekend. The effect was a three- to eight-kiloton blast, not equivalent to the bomb dropped on Hiroshima as initially reported but enough, presumably and pleasingly in Pyongyang, to rattle Kim Jong Il’s continent-sized spectacles.

Likely not less pleasing was President Barack Obama’s response, which was not to rattle sabers but to wag a finger. Wearing a power-red tie, Obama declared Monday: “Such provocations will only serve to deepen North Korea’s isolation.” Oh, that had to hurt. So much so that North Korea answered with the wave of a different finger, firing off two short-range missiles.

Well, now what, Mr. President?

He might try what President George W. Bush abandoned in 2007, financial sanctions that squeezed the flow of cash to Pyongyang and kept Kim and the gang in check, at least for a time. That would be a response preferable to the one that followed North Korea’s droll machismo last month, when Obama pledged to slash America’s nuclear weapons cache. Answering a bully by exposing a chin usually invites a blow, and so North Korea has obliged.

There is no indication yet that Obama is prepared to suffuse hollow scolding with palpable resolve. “The United States will seek a strong resolution with strong measures,” said Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Resolution of a substance firmer than soft pulp is needed, but Rice, according to The Associated Press, “stopped short of mentioning possible sanctions.”

A small group but one getting a larger hearing these days in Japan urges an alternative: the construction of nuclear weapons as a defense and a deterrent. South Korea’s largest daily newspaper is calling for the same there. Hoping to avert the addition of countries going nuclear, Obama vowed Tuesday that the U.S. will defend its Asian allies. With what? A frown?

China, having so far treated North Korea as that rascally little brother who happens on occasion to steal cars and snatch purses from old ladies, might be prodded to do more, and here there might be real effect. Pyongyang relies on China for food, fuel and weapons. China carries massive U.S. debt, hindering U.S. influence. But China relies heavily on exports to the U.S., heightening U.S. influence.

It would require a boldness Obama so far has lacked to play this card. But he might be satisfied to do so now that he has expended sufficient effort at the diplomacy he promised as a candidate. At some point, we hope, Obama will recognize that talk must be bolstered with action, or else risk the unraveling that so far appears to be occurring.

The lesser effect of inaction could be more nuclear weapons rather than fewer. The larger, worse effect could be North Korea selling weapons to America’s enemies, such as al-Qaida. Hope in the form of delusion suggests that neither of these outcomes, the prospects of which surely trouble Obama, will pass to fruition.

By naming Tuesday the ultraliberal Sonia Sotomayor as his nominee to the Supreme Court, Obama, whether by intention or not, shifted focus from Pyongyang. But the implications in North Korea are soberer. A rouge nation’s dangerous defiance warrants attention and action. The president needs to deliver.