Kim's choice of timing was well considered. It was during the Japanese Prime Minister Shintaro Abe's first visit to China and South Korea. His visit was meant to launch a diplomatic start-over for the strained relations between three major East Asian players. Instead, Abe found himself in an extremely delicate position trying to deal with North Korea. If Japan's new leader pushes too hard, China and South Korea may soon become suspicious about his intentions.
Japan should, and surely will, respond to this outrageous act by introducing tighter economic sanctions.

But it will not be enough until South Korea and China join Japan. The three Asia countries contribute most of North Korea's hard currency, estimated at more than three billion U.S. dollars. The bulk of this money goes to Kim's nuclear project. China and South Korea have maintained that they cannot leave the population to starve. While their intentions are genuinely humanitarian, Kim has unscrupulously stolen the money for his ambitions. The best way to deal with this dictator is to stop the money he can spend.