Concerning North Korea

North Korea has been a problem for the United States for over 50 years. Every so often, we make progress, until that progress somehow sparks North Korea to work harder, tougher, and become more tyrannical than ever before. In a recession while the national debt is piling up, we must avoid military action. Our other option is economic sanction. The idea of economic sanctions makes sense, but will these sanctions lead the world to the end it desires? Although we have had economic sanctions on North Korea since almost the beginning of our toils, what have been the fruits of the sanctions? The communist dictatorship has spit out nuclear missiles, maintained an army of 1.4 million men, the fourth largest in the world, and the nation has continued to defy international law (not that the U.S. has always followed it...i.e. past 8 years). Economic sanctions have not broken their government's drive. So what is the remedy if sanctions do not work? Public opinion.
The master of diplomacy, Henry Kissinger, writes in his greatest work, Diplomacy, that public opinion is the greatest sanction against mounting threats. The opinion of NATO and the U.N. are significant players in forming international opposition. Russia and China are also powerful nations that may sway North Korea's attitude toward the rest of the world. Right now, as for the Obama administration, the U.S. must have an aggressive diplomatic policy that stresses the consequences of North Korea's actions, and the ends that their actions will take them. Any signs that show we are being broken only drives them. If North Korea plans to use what is in their arsenal, they are only planning their own destruction. Chances that they will use nuclear missiles are small, and economic and military powerhouses like Russia, China, and Japan will surely stop North Korea in its tracks. If not, North Korea will most likely cease to exist.