As far as anyone is concerned, the war for Iraq has been raging for months. Battles are fought not with bullets and bombs, but with words, resolutions and protests. America leads the forces aimed at disarming Saddam no matter what it takes, battling those determined to “keep the inspectors working,” no matter what is at stake.

There is another conflict in progress that is receiving more and more attention. North Korea, led by Kim Jong Il, continues to cause headaches for both the United States and the rest of the world.

Almost everyday now we’re seeing more provocation by North Korea, increasing tensions between Washington and Pyongyang. North Korea now threatens to use nuclear weapons in response to any conventional attack. They refuse to disarm, and seem determined to represent as big a threat as possible to the world.

A stream of threatening language comes out of Pyongyang on a daily basis. Fox News and CNN report provocative statements such as “nuclear war could break out at any moment.” Now the regime is moving beyond words, intercepting a reconnaissance flight in international waters and testing a missile during the South Korean presidential inauguration.

So what’s the solution? The Bush administration wants to approach North Korea as the United Nations approached Iraq. Diplomacy, as always, is the first course of action, and the preferable means to a solution. Bush believes that both Iraq and North Korea must be confronted by a multinational coalition, namely the United Nations, to achieve disarmament without bloodshed.

If, and only if, multilateral diplomacy does not achieve disarmament, force must be used to eliminate these weapons. Force is viewed as the lesser of two evils — military action with a risk of casualties, or nuclear, biological or chemical attack killing perhaps millions.

Secretary of State Colin Powell recently returned from a trip to Japan, China and South Korea to discuss the administration’s desire to approach North Korea within a coalition of nations demanding disarmament. Powell suggested deliberations involving a “five plus five” group, whose members would include the five permanent seats on the U.N. Security Council — the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, and China — as well as North Korea, South Korea, Australia, Japan and The European Union. The Washington Post reports that Powell received reluctant backing by North Korea’s neighbors, but shortly after leaving, all three countries once again called for bilateral U.S — North Korea talks.

It is clear that North Korea is truly a threat to not only America, but to its neighbors and the whole world. Why then does the international community, led by the country’s neighbors, call for one-on-one talks between the United States and North Korea? If countries opposing any unilateral military action in Iraq expect the United States to allow the United Nations to deliberate about America’s national interest, then why are we expected to accept full responsibility to represent the world’s interests in this matter? This position is entirely hypocritical.

Fox News reported Wednesday that “Saddam owes Moscow billions for arms and supplies and is paying the debt off by sending the Putin government oil well below market prices.” Additionally, both Russia and France have signed deals with Iraq for oil exploration. In the Iraq situation, both Russia and France clearly have an interest to keep themselves involved, fighting for a multilateral approach.

When dealing with North Korea, however, these countries would rather have the United States deal with Kim Jong Il, as they expect us to cough up perhaps billions of dollars in incentives for the regime to disarm. While it is ridiculous to expect the United States to front the cash to appease this axis of evil member, it is not surprising that they would, as this was Clinton’s policy during his tenure.

Clinton agreed to unilaterally lift economic sanctions on the country, and in return North Korea agreed to abide by the non-proliferation treaty. And we once again see the success of appeasement policy now that Kim Jong Il has admitted violating the treaty since the mid-’90s.

Fortunately, the Bush administration has declined to give in to North Korea’s bribery. It may take some time, however, for our so-called-allies to realize that the U.S. Administration will not permit this international issue to be seen as only “our problem.” Kim Jong Il must be made aware that his neighbors and the entire world will not tolerate his threatening posture. Until other countries realize this, there is little hope of convincing this axis of evil member to disarm.