Editorial: Time to put up over North Korea?

North Korea has launched a second ICBM.

Is it time to put up or shut up over North Korea?

President Trump has tweeted tough, demanded heavier sanctions, pressed China and flexed his country's military muscle.

And still Kim Jong-un launches missiles, often in the most provocative way, such as the July 4 launch - US Independence Day - of a successful ICBM, and now a second launch that experts say has the range to reach the US.

What is a President to do?

Military intervention in North Korea will at best cost many lives, perhaps tens of thousands. Turning pear-shape and costing many times more than that is a distinct possibility also.

Kim will never surrender his nukes. Gaddafi and Saddam are two very good reasons why not.

Sanctions do not work. North Korea's economy is widely reported to have grown despite decades of previous sanctions.

We strongly suspect that neither China nor Russia ever really enforced those sanctions, nor is it in their self-interests to enforce any future sanctions.

So if not military action then President Trump must either back down or continue to make noises and demands while ultimately doing nothing.

There may be another option.

In Seoul, some 30km from the North Korean border, lives a small group of North Korean defectors who have clubbed together to broadcast, across the border to their former countrymen, censored-free media.

Perhaps if the world wants a bloodless path towards a more stable, moderate regime in North Korea, then here's a big hint.

Show the North Korean people the truth of the brutal regime they live under, and let time take care of the rest.​