Let’s rule out military option on North Korea

Diplomacy should remain the focus of attempts to resolve the unnerving crisis on the Korean Peninsula, even in light of Pyongyang’s latest nuclear provocation. A military assault on North Korea must be avoided at all costs, given there is no guarantee that all of its atomic and missile facilities would be destroyed, leaving Kim Jong-un still capable of lashing out and escalating the conflict.
North Korea’s sixth nuclear-bomb test, on Sunday, indicated that Pyongyang continues to make significant progress in its ambition to join the world’s fraternity of nuclear-armed nations. This was the fourth such test since Kim came to power and it was claimed a success. If so, it suggests that the North now has a hydrogen bomb adaptable to an intercontinental ballistic missile.
The blast triggered a magnitude-6.3 tremor. It was the most powerful weapon Pyongyang has tested to date, with far more destructive capability than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II. In Japan, of course, the North Korean test multiplied concerns, coming less than a week after the North fired a ballistic missile over northern Hokkaido Island in an act that drew international condemnation.
The international community faces a complex dilemma, however. Pyongyang has shown that its nuclear programme is unstoppable and non-negotiable. It refuses to heed UN resolutions or pleading from trade partners like the Asean Regional Forum. And, if Kim is behaving irrationally, United States President Donald Trump is not helping matters. He has consistently indicated that a military strike against the North is a very real possibility. Even as Trump calls on allies in Asia to sanction Pyongyang as per UN resolutions, the Pentagon is reportedly working on a series of military options.
Doubt shrouds the likelihood of a lightning strike being precise enough to knock out the North’s ability to respond. Such an assault would have to take down not just the nuclear and missile sites, which themselves are far-flung, but also the North’s conventional military facilities. What’s more likely is that the North would still be able to react with strikes against Japan and South Korea.
If substantial loss of life is to be avoided, the only real option lies in peaceful negotiations. The world can no longer count on the unified enforcement of UN sanctions. Around 90 per cent of North Korea’s foreign trade is with China, and China is now on board with tougher sanctions, and yet the testing continues. The North has economic arrangements with several other countries around the world, including in Southeast Asia, but Trump’s threat to halt trade with any nation doing business with Pyongyang is empty talk and easily ignored. 
If it followed through on that threat, the US would only be hurting its own economy.  If such a measure were pursued in the absence of supporting strategies, only the US and its trading partners would suffer – not North Korea.
So the military option is too dangerous and economic sanctions are ineffective. The international community, led by the UN and US, obviously need an entirely different approach, one that is both peaceful and comprehensive enough to force North Korea to cease its threatening words and actions. It might require extraordinary time and patience, but anything is preferable to violence and war.