NORTH KOREA BOASTS, BUT WHAT WILL WE DO? – AT 9:47 A.M. ET:   North Korea loves to rub salt in the wound, and why not?  There never seems to be an effective response from us, or anyone else.  This is a tough one.  North Korea is a dangerous rogue state, but even Secretary of Defense Mattis has warned of the horror of a ground war on the Korean peninsula.  From Reuters: 

North Korea said on Wednesday its newly developed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) can carry a large nuclear warhead, triggering a call by Washington for global action to hold it accountable for pursuing nuclear weapons.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Defense Department said it had concluded that North Korea test-launched an ICBM on Tuesday, which some experts now believe had the range to reach the U.S. state of Alaska as well as parts of the mainland United States.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the test, on the eve of the U.S. Independence Day holiday, represented "a new escalation of the threat" to the United States and its allies, and vowed to take stronger measures.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the test completed his country's strategic weapons capability that includes atomic and hydrogen bombs and ICBMs, the state KCNA news agency said.

Pyongyang would not negotiate with the United States to give up those weapons until Washington abandons its hostile policy against the North, KCNA quoted Kim as saying.

"He, with a broad smile on his face, told officials, scientists and technicians that the U.S. would be displeased ... as it was given a 'package of gifts' on its 'Independence Day'," KCNA said.

Kim ordered them to "frequently send big and small 'gift packages' to the Yankees," it added.

The launch came days before leaders from the Group of 20 nations are due to discuss steps to rein in North Korea's weapons program, which it has pursued in defiance of United Nations Security Council sanctions.

The test successfully verified the technical requirements of the newly developed ICBM in stage separation, the atmospheric re-entry of the warhead and the late-stage control of the warhead, KCNA said.

Tillerson warned that any country that hosts North Korean workers, provides economic or military aid to Pyongyang, or fails to implement U.N. sanctions "is aiding and abetting a dangerous regime".

"All nations should publicly demonstrate to North Korea that there are consequences to their pursuit of nuclear weapons," Tillerson said in a statement.

COMMENT:  Thus far the American response has been mild – Tillerson's routine statement, some test launchings of small missiles in an exercise in South Korea, and the president tweeting a message ridiculing Kim.

It will take much more.

After he was elected, President Trump said the North Koreans would never be permitted to have an ICBM.  They now have it.  Trump properly criticized Obama for allowing Syria to cross his red line, without punishment.  Now North Korea has crossed Trump's.

The problem is not easy.  All the options are problematical, most are dangerous.  But we elected Trump to solve problems, and now the responsibility is his.  He could, of course, decide to live with a nuclear North Korea, armed with ICBM's, and depend on deterrence.  But how would that differ from Obama's policy?

A decisive moment is at hand.

July 5, 2017