We'll show 'em physical response; we're good at that

The New York Times has an editorial about North Korea:

North Korea is threatening a “physical response” to joint American-South Korean naval exercises scheduled to begin on 25 July off the Korean Peninsula. China, which has abetted its neighbor’s excesses for too long, needs to ensure that the North’s bluster is only bluster. And it needs to tone down its own rhetoric.
The United States and South Korea are right to demonstrate their strong alliance and resolve after North Korea sank a South Korean warship in March, killing 46 sailors. The South Koreans have exercised admirable restraint, but they need to know that the United States is with them. The North Koreans need to know that further attacks won’t be tolerated.
When the issue of the warship, the Cheonan, was brought to the United Nations Security Council last month, the Security Council— at China’s insistence— blinked. It deplored the attack and expressed “deep concern” about the results of an investigation that held North Korea responsible. But the Council did not directly censure the North and noted its denial of responsibility. North Korea’s leaders hailed the statement as a “great diplomatic victory”. The danger is that they believe it.
The naval exercises have to be carefully calibrated to demonstrate strength without being provocative. They also need to be backed up by a review of what South Korea needs to defend its warships.
The Obama administration also has to carefully manage the diplomacy with Beijing. China— North Korea’s main oil and food supplier— is probably the only country with a serious chance of curbing the North’s craziest impulses. The United States should be urging China to exercise that influence— and reminding it that, when it blocked a tougher Security Council statement (and watered down earlier sanctions on North Korea’s nuclear program), it took responsibility for reining in the North.
We are disturbed that, instead of talking sense to North Korea, China has stoked tensions by objecting that part of the exercises were planned for the Yellow Sea; international waters, where American ships have often sailed, that are claimed by Beijing.
Four years after North Korea tested its first nuclear device, negotiations to end its program are going nowhere. American officials say privately that China has abdicated its role as a coordinator of the six-party nuclear talks. For now, they will focus on working with South Korea to ratchet up the pressure on the North.
On a visit to Seoul, South Korea, this week, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced that the United States is expanding sanctions on already heavily-sanctioned North Korea. The new measures have not been fully detailed, but they will target the bank accounts and luxury goods (cigarettes and alcohol) that the ruling elite enjoy while their people starve. The new approach is unlikely to change minds in North Korea, but it may persuade China to get back in the game.
Despite the tougher talk, the administration says— wisely— that it is still open to engagement. We’re not sure there is a strategy to get there. But the Cheonan is one more reminder that the status quo is untenable.

Rico says something in North Korea needs to go boom, and soon...