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Editorial

Time to Take North Korea Seriously

Since the first of the year, North Korea has conducted another nuclear weapons test and launched a satellite on a rocket. Both acts further advance North Korea’s quest to acquire the ability to fire a nuclear-armed missile against another country, while serving as a reminder of the world’s lamentable failure to shut the program down.

Especially striking has been China’s impotence. President Xi Jinping has repeatedly urged North Korea to show restraint. At the same time, he has refused to endorse tough international sanctions that might have an impact on the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un. Beijing recently agreed to work on new United Nations sanctions, but there is no indication that those sanctions would go far enough.

The Chinese are probably right when they say they have less influence over Mr. Kim than many people think. But as the North’s only ally and economic lifeline for food and fuel oil, China has more leverage than any other country to steer Mr. Kim toward a less hostile course. Beijing is understandably concerned that tough sanctions could cause people to flee North Korea for China. But even relatively modest gestures, like preventing Mr. Kim from obtaining whiskey and other luxuries, could force him to think twice about continuing North Korea’s provocative behavior.

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North Koreans in Pyongyang celebrated their country’s rocket launch.Credit...Jon Chol Jin/Associated Press

While China temporizes, others are acting. Last week, Congress overwhelmingly approved strict sanctions intended to limit the North’s ability to finance warheads and missiles. President Obama should sign the measure into law. It is aimed at weapons and traders of raw minerals, as well as money launderers and human rights abusers, and its effects are likely to be felt acutely by Chinese companies, which are most involved with the North.

South Korea stepped up the pressure by closing the Kaesong industrial complex, run jointly with North Korea. South Korean officials said the venture, which employs thousands of North Korean workers, was underwriting the North’s weapons program. South Korea also has agreed to discuss deploying an American missile defense system that could track North Korean activities and to step up security coordination with Japan.

None of this will please Beijing. But such steps are needed to calm anxious citizens in South Korea and Japan while persuading China to be more constructive in helping to find a solution to the North Korean threat. The North is believed to have produced 10 to 16 crude nuclear weapons since 2003. And the more weapons North Korea produces, the more likely it is to try to sell them to earn hard currency.

Tougher sanctions alone are not enough to get North Korea to reconsider its weapons programs. The Iran nuclear deal showed that sanctions can be a useful tool only in negotiations toward some mutually acceptable end. President Obama, Mr. Xi and the leaders of Japan and South Korea have erred in not putting forward a proposal that can induce the North into serious talks.

North Korea’s full disarmament, while long the goal, is unrealistic at this point. To have any chance of success, the negotiations should aim for constraint. That means persuading the North to end all testing and to forsake technology transfers to other parties. This is a formidable challenge, but neglecting it only guarantees that the threat will get worse.

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A version of this article appears in print on  , Section SR, Page 8 of the National edition with the headline: Time to Take North Korea Seriously. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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