North Korea

Do you cut off the flow of cognac and caviar to Kim Jong Il? Close down the North Korean leader's personal bank accounts? Intercept ships carrying North Korean missiles? The problem is that all these and more have been tried before in a two-decade-long struggle to restrain North Korea from developing nuclear weapons. If President Obama, as he promised last week, does take a "very hard look" at the Pyongyang problem, he will no doubt be disheartened by the failures of his predecessors.

North Korea's sentencing of two American TV journalists to 12 years of hard labor Monday could imperil the Obama administration's already difficult goal of curtailing the authoritarian nation's nuclear weapons ambitions. If no deal is reached, the two women face a grim future in a brutal prison system notorious for its lack of adequate food and medical supplies and its high death rate.

North Korea lashed out at the United States and South Korea on Wednesday, warning that it would attack the South if any of its ships were intercepted as part of an American-led initiative to stem the world trade in nuclear weapons. North Korea's state-run news service reiterated Pyongyang's anger over South Korea's decision to join 100 other nations in the so-called Proliferation Security Initiative to blockade any nation suspected of trading nuclear materials. "The U.S.

Despite a broad and persistent cyber attack whose targets included the White House, the New York Stock Exchange and the Washington Post, government websites were operating normally on Wednesday, officials said. The attack began July 4 and caused little damage, but it touched off a debate among experts over whether it represented a mild nuisance or the opening salvo of a potential electronic war.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned Wednesday that the United States may erect a "defense umbrella" over the Middle East if Tehran continues its nuclear program, a sign that the Obama administration is preparing for the reality of an Iranian bomb.

The United States and allied powers threatened Monday to impose new penalties on North Korea after the defiant regime announced its second nuclear bomb test, but their leverage in derailing the weapons program appeared limited. The five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, meeting in emergency session in New York, denounced the test as a "clear violation" of a 2006 resolution.

The "Do Not Cross" line here between North and South Korea has a prosaic feel to it: a concrete speed bump. The almost imperceptible hump, sitting between two blue buildings that straddle the 38th parallel, would look at home on a suburban street. Likewise, the swath of grass and concrete of the Joint Security Area resembles a college campus -- uncommonly quiet and devoid of students -- more than a hyper-guarded demilitarized zone. But hyper-guarded it is.

Key world powers agreed Wednesday on a draft of a United Nations resolution that would sharply increase export and financial sanctions against North Korea as punishment for its recent nuclear weapons and missile tests. After more than two weeks of debate, the United States, Britain and France joined North Korea's traditional protectors, China and Russia, in signing off on the draft. The full 15-member U.N.

When is it time to dump an old friend who insists on behaving badly? The debate is raging in China. North Korea's latest nuclear test raises the question of just how long the bonds forged between old communist allies will endure. The test was conducted barely 50 miles from the Chinese border. The ground rumbled in northeast China, and some schools were evacuated because of fears of an earthquake. "It was quite shocking.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates promised today to hold North Korea accountable for selling or transferring nuclear material outside its borders, providing the first clear expression of the Obama administration's thinking on a vexing foreign policy challenge. A succession of U.S. presidents have tried to persuade the reclusive government to give up its nuclear arms, and Gates made it clear that President Obama was open to using diplomacy to end the threat.