An often anemic Congress – note the recent failure of health care reform — has been stirred by a rapid-fire series of North Korean provocations to take what looks like decisive action against Kim Jong Un and his regime.

Despite Pyongyang’s public threats, repeated again this month, that further U.S. sanctions are “tantamount to an act of war”, the Senate, in a rare display of near unanimity, passed sanctions legislation on July 27 targeting North Korea, as well as Iran and Russia, by a 97-2 vote.

The DPRK portion of the sanctions was reportedly included at the insistence of the