China exposed

President Obama has a tremendous opportunity to press for positive developments in North Korea.

At the present time, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, and South Korean President Lee Myung Bak have taken a hard-line approach to North Korea, denying Kim Jong Il their previous implicit support, and thus removing Kim's Western diplomatic cover. In fact, just yesterday, President Bak confirmed South Korea's no-nonsense approach to the the North by joining the Proliferation Security Initiative, in which North Korean vessels will be boarded and WMD materials seized.

With North Korea's Western support evaporated, China now finds itself the lone supporter of that rogue state, and thus diplomatically isolated. According to China expert Gordon G. Chang (writing in Forbes), "the Chinese have defied Washington when they had company [Western diplomatic cover] but were almost always cooperative when they did not."

Now is the time for Obama to bring change to our North Korea policy. Instead of wasting time in the failure that is the "Six Party Talks," Obama has a unique opportunity to use U.S. economic and diplomatic pressure to induce China to put the brakes on North Korea's nuclear weapons program. While he's at it, he can urge China to pressure Kim into making various social reforms in the North as well.

I'm not holding my breath.