Can anything now stop North Korea?

We have tried carrots and sticks, aid and sanctions, engagement and isolation. Nothing seems to work.

Month by month, North Korea keeps edging closer to the Bomb. A moment that has been approaching for decades is upon us. A pudgy and petulant man-child, who owes his position to having calmly murdered members of his own family, may soon be able to threaten us with obliteration. Can anything be done, or is the problem, as Vladimir Putin suggests, insoluble?

Few problems are insoluble. But some can be solved only by creating worse problems. Consider, by way of illustration, the options now being mooted.

Tougher sanctions. We might be able to stop military materials reaching North Korea, but only if we stop pretty much everything else reaching it, too. That would likely plunge the country into another famine, and would in any case work only if China and Russia took part.

Targeted strikes. We could try to hit North Korea's nuclear facilities – an option Bill Clinton looked at – but it's risky. If any were left, they might launch retaliatory strikes against South Korea and Japan.