Can the North Korean problem be solved without bloodshed?

3 Ways to Handle North Korea (that Don’t Involve Bombing It)

Diplomacy is undoubtedly the best way forward with North Korea. But that doesn’t mean the US military shouldn’t be preparing ways to curtail the threat posed by Pyongyang’s missile program, writes former NATO Supreme Allied Commander James Stavridis in the Nikkei Asian Review. There are three things the United States can and should be doing:

1. Improve missile defenses. “The truly innovative idea would be to go after the missiles as they are launched in what is generally called the ‘boost phase.’ This is a difficult shot, but there are new solutions emerging that would use airborne sensors off the coast deployed on drones, kept in place for prolonged periods, and possibly equipped with either missiles or lasers.”
2. Think aggressively about cyber. “North Korea is…largely insulated from the web, and therefore getting a cyber tool into their networks would be difficult and might require covert physical activity on the ground -- quite risky. But clearly the threat is growing rapidly and it may be time to explore a more aggressive posture.”
3. A naval blockade. “The best case, naturally, would be to use the United Nations Security Council Sanctions process to obtain a formal resolution for a blockade as was done most recently off Libya during the conflict there in 2011. While not in the cards politically at the moment, the next nuclear test -- especially if it is indeed over the ocean -- may finally persuade China to permit such a move. It would required a significant number of warships -- dozens -- but could be conducted by an international coalition.”

Russia: North Korea wants to talk. Per The Guardian: “North Korea is open to direct talks with the US over their nuclear standoff, according to the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, who said he passed that message to his counterpart, Rex Tillerson, when the two diplomats met in Vienna on Thursday.

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