A plan for South Korea

We'll have one...any day now.

Mr. Hill did not suggest what the American response would be and gave no hint of an economic or military response. But he said of North Korea: “It can have a future or it can have these weapons. It cannot have both.”

Mr. Hill’s comments, made at the newly created U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University, contrasted sharply with Washington’s muted initial reaction on Tuesday to North Korea’s announcement that it would conduct an underground nuclear test “in the future.”

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that a test would be “provocative,” and the National Security Council released a statement saying that it would “severely undermine our confidence in North Korea’s commitment to denuclearization.”

Mr. Hill said the direct message to North Korea, delivered to its mission at the United Nations, was in keeping with Tuesday’s responses.

Some inside the administration complained that the responses were so soft that North Korea would read them as an invitation to proceed.

In an emergency meeting held at the White House on Tuesday, senior aides discussed responses ranging from embargoes on North Korean goods to trying new ways to engage the country in talks. But no conclusion was reached, and the administration’s long-running debate about how to deal with the North continued Wednesday.

Unbelievable. The North Korea "situation" is not a new development. It was an issue for which the Clinton administration made serious efforts to contain, and it has been a major burr in the side of George W. Bush for the past six years. And yet, and yet, they're still debating how to respond to North Korea's "provocations?"

And while they "debate" back in the White House, they have an assistant secretary of state making threats about North Korea having to choose between nuclear weapons and "a future."

Speak loudly and forget where you put the stick.

Has there ever been a less serious, more incompetent administration?

Hypothetical question.