By shooting off seven ballistic missiles this morning.

North Korea fired seven ballistic missiles off its eastern coast Saturday, South Korea said, a violation of U.N. resolutions and an apparent message of defiance to the United States on its Independence Day.
The launches, which came two days after North Korea fired what were believed to be four short-range cruise missiles, will likely further escalate tensions in the region as the U.S. tries to muster support for tough enforcement of the latest U.N. Security Council resolution imposed on the communist regime for its May nuclear test.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said three missiles were fired early Saturday, a fourth around noon and three more in the afternoon. The Defense Ministry said that the missiles were ballistic and are believed to have flown more than 250 miles.

“Our military is fully ready to counter any North Korean threats and provocations based on strong South Korea-U.S. combined defense posture,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

It’s better than a Taepodong-2, but let’s not get too excited just yet. He’s been defying UN sanctions left and right. These latest missile launches are yet another act that defies the sanctions against him, and the only apparent reason he hasn’t launched a T-2 is because he hasn’t gotten it up and running yet.

It doesn’t mean he won’t in the near future, though. Just because a T-2 isn’t coming our way for the Fourth of July doesn’t mean we should let our guard down. Clearly, Kim Jong Il doesn’t much care about UN sanctions or the strongly worded letters of condemnation he’s been getting. And while I’m glad that we’re ready to intercept any missiles that come our way, it’s frankly not good enough.

Here’s the million dollar question: how long do we allow this to go on before we take action? UN sanctions against him are not working. Threatening that North Korea will “lose the respect of the international community” hasn’t fazed him, either. This is not going to stop until we make him stop. And if we don’t, I fear that a T-2 will indeed be coming our way. If Kim Jong Il is smart (which he is) he’ll wait a few months without launching any missiles to get our guard down, and then BAM. That’s all it would take. And I get the feeling that our idiot president won’t do anything to prevent that from happening.

I mean, come on. Let’s face reality. North Korea just launched seven missiles in defiance of UN sanctions and specifically the United States. And what will Obama do to stop it? Send another strongly worded letter? Issue a UN resolution? I bet Kim Jong Il is just shaking in his boots thinking about it.

Hat Tip: Hot Air