At this stage of the game, the most ethical thing that we (the United States) could do is submit a proposal to the UN Security Council demanding that the North Korean government submit to United Nations control and hand over their leaders to the World Court for prosecution. Of course, France, Russia and China would vote a triple veto against such a Security Council proposal. However the United States would have made an attempt to rectify the situation in North Korea.

How do you see a cosmetic effort doomed to fail as "the most ethical thing we could do?"

As JFK said, "We must recognize that foreign policy in the modern world does not lend itself to easy, simple black and white solutions. For the purpose of foreign policy is not to provide an outlet for our own sentiments of hope or indignation; it is to shape real events in a real world."

An ethical policy would attempt to"shape real events." We could probably buy them off for a lot less than it would take to try another "regime change," and get better access for inspections. We should also encourage the world to trade with them as much as possible, even if it's at a loss, to pry the country open a bit.