North Korea

On Sunday, Communist North Korea fired a long-range Taepodong-2 missile over Japan, apparently defying a 2006 U.N. Security Council resolution barring the hermit kingdom from firing ballistic missiles.

The Koreans claim the rocket successfully launched into orbit a satellite that transmitted scientific data and "serenaded the heavens with songs of praise" for dictator Kim Jong Il and his late father, Kim Il Sung. The United States and South Korea say the rocket ended up in the Pacific, where the denizens of the briny deep may or may not have been impressed with the bubbling songs of praise.

The Security Council rushed into an emergency session over the weekend, where they breathlessly agreed to "continue consultations" on the matter, and then set about trying to find an East Side deli that would deliver on Sunday.

President Obama spoke from Prague, urging North Korea to honor U.N. resolutions and refrain from further "provocative" actions. "Now is the time for a strong international response, and North Korea must know that the path to security and respect will never come through threats and illegal weapons," Mr. Obama said.

But our actions say otherwise.

"The U.N. never does anything," observed Andrei Lankov, a North Korea specialist at Kookmin University in Seoul.

Instead, the government of Korea is demonstrating an old doctrine, which is re-proved each time it's ignored: Whatever you reward or subsidize, you get more of.

Forget the dire warnings, the "firm letters of protest." What we have taught the North Korean state, through repetition, is that if that nation's hereditary dictators want our attention, along with some kind of new Cracker Jack prize, all they have to do is develop a nuclear program that could someday produce a bomb, or test a large but "dumb" missile with enough range to strike Japan or Alaska.

This will bring Americans and others to the negotiating table, where we will offer the North Koreans something new and shiny, in exchange for a "promise" -- a "promise" they will keep till they think of something else they want, or till the ink is dry, whichever comes first.

All the North Korean pooh-bahs know and want to know is that such actions will attract attention, which will allow them to strut mightily on the bandstand at the annual armed forces parade.

There is no appetite in these parts to go to war in that mountainous and inhospitable land, even were that possible -- and it's not possible, practically speaking, so long as the mighty Chinese dragon holds this tiny rogue nation under its protective wing, chuckling at its ability to make Tokyo and Washington squeal.

It's time to stop playing the game. Keep an eye on them, yes. But let's stop barking on cue.