Punishing North Korea

South Korea is banking on the UN Security Council to punish North Korea for the sinking of its warship that killed 46 of its sailors. Most likely, the UN will condemn the attack, impose sanctions, and cut trade ties between the North and the South, North Korea’s source of hard currency. For its part, the US State Department will see to it that North Korea will be added again to its list of states that sponsor terrorism.

But how would all these measures diminish the military prowess of an isolated “Stalinist regime”?

For all the world's indignation over this autocrat’s totalitarian rule, his international law violations over missile testings, the sinking of a South Korean naval ship – all legitimate causes for war for which only the North Korean people will benefit in the end -- perhaps an effective retaliatory act to the sinking of South Korea’s naval ship should revolve around the idea of how to incapacitate North Korea’s missiles, especially those pointed down south. Talks along these lines rather than economic sanctions will perhaps have some impact on North Korea’s military prowess.