THE LAST TIME NORTH KOREA THREW DOWN, the world treated Kim Jong-Il like a petulant child stomping his feet because Iran was getting all the attention. Once he got his pacifier, his props, his concessions, he immediately calmed down. That was 2006.

Since then, the 67-year-old Dear Leader’s increasingly frail appearance and grim health (heart problems, diabetes, brain surgery, a stroke last year, bad ankles from wearing platform heels) gives greater weight to his escalating threats. What we have is a dying madman with a man death wish. And isn’t it just like a megalomaniac to go out with a bang while taking chunks of East Asia with him?

Color us rattled by the recent round of saber-rattling. Why? Because North Korea’s unprecedented number of missile tests, including an underground test conducted only 80 miles from China, is a middle finger pointed not only at America & Co but at China too. This is nuts and borderline suicidal because China is North Korea’s primary source of aid, food, and oil. What’s even scarier is that we don’t really know who’s actually running the show in Pyongyang anymore, or who will replace Lil’ Kim when the end comes. (The heir apparent, third son Kim Jong-un, is said to take after dad.)

The stakes are sky-high this time and Kim appears to have gone all in. U.S. spy satellites have reportedly detected steam at the Yongbyon nuclear complex, an ominous sign that North Korea is once again processing nuclear fuel. (North Korea is said to have enough plutonium for at least four atomic bombs). Sanctions and tough talk from the West aren’t going to cut it this time.

So what’s a peace-loving nation to do? We can’t exactly use nukes. Now that we’ve declared ourselves “a nation that does not torture,” how can we possibly commit such a supreme act of barbarism? Even Nixon wouldn’t use nukes against Hanoi. But there’s got to be other military options, right? What about massive air strikes to take out North Korea’s battery of missiles? You know, the 11,000 artillery tubes and rockets currently aimed at Seoul.

You’d think it would be easy, but Kim Jong-il has gone all Dr. No on us, hiding the weapons in mountain tunnel complexes with blast doors that open up for firing or launching fighter jets. Rooting them out would require nothing short of storming those hidden bases.

Okay, so let’s run with this idea for the moment. Even if the U.S. military wasn’t currently double-booked, this plan would require about half a million troops and likely result in huge numbers of American dead just in the first few days of fighting. Such is the cost of a ground attack on a mountainous nation defended by a die-hard standing army of 1.1 million. (Who knows, if we’re lucky, maybe the KPA’s starving soldiers will defect or just keel over.)

So what can we do? Well, we could wait it out and see if Kim’s successor is a more reasonable dynastic despot. Or we could appeal to the only player who has any clout with North Korea.

Chairman Mao once said the relationship between China and North Korea was as close as “lips and teeth.” Well, it’s time for China to stop flapping its lips and start using some teeth. After all, China has coddled and defended this problem child for long enough. Given the reckless nature of the recent tests, the leadership crisis in Pyongyang, the North Korean penchant for selling nuclear technology to the bad guys, and the very real risk of a nuke going off in China’s own backyard, many in China (and even Russia for that matter) are beginning to wonder if it’s time to rein in North Korea.

How? Not by cutting aid, that’s for sure. Kim Jong-il couldn’t care less how many of his people starve. No, China will have to bust out the nunchucks; that is, it must threaten to use force—something it’s always doing to poor Taiwan. People tend to take China’s threats more seriously than, say, America’s because China has never had qualms about taking huge casualties when deemed necessary.

The trick, of course, is convincing China to man up and take its place on the right side of history. And that will likely require more shows of defiance from North Korea. Another underground test that shook the earth in China, for example. Another middle finger at the Middle Kingdom. •