EDITORIAL: North Korea a dangerous challenge

President Trump has a number of challenges this week on his first G20 meeting, including Russian meddling in U.S. elections, international trade, climate change and migration all expected to be on the agenda.

But the most pressing issue may be North Korea.

Kim Jong Un’s regime, which already has conducted more ballistics tests than his father did during his entire reign, fired a missile on Tuesday that, while clearly not aimed at the United States, may have the capability to hit the U.S. mainland. North Korea claims the missile reached an altitude of more than 1,700 miles.

It may be this is just more of North Korea’s desire for attention. Isolated, it long has wanted to be seen as a major power that the U.S. and other nations would have to deal with one-on-one. Each provocation appears aimed toward making North Korea a bigger player on the world stage.

The instability of Kim makes real the danger that a missile could be fired at the United States, or at least close enough to touch off an international incident that could quickly spiral out of control.

In response to the missile test, U.S. officials made it clear that all options were on the table. U.S. military officials in South Korea said U.S. forces were ready at any time. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said the U.S. preferred non-military options, but was prepared to employ the “full range” of American capabilities.

President Trump, speaking Thursday at a news conference in Warsaw, said it was “a shame they’re behaving this way — they’re behaving in a very very dangerous manner and something will have to be done about it.”

The president, who often over-shares his thoughts on Twitter, wouldn’t elaborate on how the U.S. might react.

“I have some pretty severe things that we are thinking about,” he said. “That doesn’t mean we are going to do it. I don’t draw red lines.”

Make no mistake, however, as to what military action could result in. A best-case scenario would be a bloody, vicious battle that would result in heightened tensions between the U.S. and China. The use of poisonous gas and even nukes by Pyongyang would be likely before the regime was taken out. Any small miscalculation could lead to a regional war, or one in which the U.S. found itself facing off with China, Russia or both.

One thing that would help is if the United States and China could reach some sort of consensus on how to deal with the rogue nation. China’s preference has been for the U.S. to appease North Korea by agreeing to cut back on large military drills with our ally South Korea. U.S. officials want China, which has 90 percent of North Korea’s trade, to put pressure on Pyongyang to behave.

The problem with diplomatic solutions is they haven’t been solutions at all. North Korea has acquired nuclear capabilities and now it is in the process of acquiring a delivery system that can make those capabilities dangerous to the United States and our allies.

At the G20, China wants to address trade with the United States. North Korea should be part of that. China, despite its communist political system, has a firm grasp of capitalism on the world stage.

Perhaps the president or someone on the U.S. team make a convincing argument that an unbridled Pyongyang, firing off missiles right and left, isn’t good business for anyone.