Editorials

“One thing we have learned is that the rocket didn’t stay up very long,” President Bush noted on Wednesday.

Peter Hayes, executive director of the Nautilus Institute think tank, had an even harsher performance assessment. “Now we know that they almost certainly don’t have a long-range missile with any capacity whatsoever to worry about,” he told McClatchy newspapers.

That may be good news, but the downside is that Pyongyang may now be a little pouty and reluctant to resume talks in the wake of its Wile E. Coyote moment. As former South Korean legislator and intelligence adviser Dong-bok Lee told McClatchy: “If North Korea were to come back to the six-party talks after these test-firing blunders, it would be coming back in a greatly weakened position. It won’t do that.”

The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday weighed how to respond to the missile tests, with China and Russia blocking efforts by the United States, Japan and Britain to impose new sanctions against North Korea.

That may not have been what the White House hoped for, but the president nevertheless sounded the right notes Wednesday. He said North Korea had further isolated itself from the family of nations, “and that’s sad for the people of North Korea. I am deeply concerned about the plight of the people of North Korea.”

Bush added that “the best way to solve this problem diplomatically is for there to be more than one nation speaking to North Korea, more than America voicing our opinions.”

It’s certainly true that the United States can’t adopt a unilateralist approach and hope for success (at least the Iraq debacle seems to have taught the administration that much). However, there is going to have to come a time when the United States talks directly with North Korea, one on one.

Currently, the United States is a participant in the on-again, off-again six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear weapons program (the parties being — in addition to Washington and Pyongyang — Russia, China, Japan and South Korea). These talks have their place, but so do direct negotiations between the United States and North Korea.

As for punishing Pyongyang, the world must make sure that any punitive measures do not impose greater suffering on the North Korean people. President Bush is right to be concerned about their perilous situation.

The president is also correct to focus on diplomatic solutions. Despite the hype and bluster we are likely to hear in coming days from certain far-right quarters, there is no need to panic over Tuesday’s missile tests and no reason to abandon wise and diligent diplomacy.