North Korea announced on Wednesday that it had successfully tested another nuclear bomb, its fourth since 2006, and independent reports of man-made seismic activity inside the hermit kingdom seem to confirm the claim.

There's no real North Korea policy in place in Washington; the Obama administration has pursued a strategy of "strategic patience," which essentially amounts to waiting for either North Korea or its benefactor China to voluntarily do something productive. So when North Korea forces Washington to pay attention, even if it's only for a few days, all the U.S. government can do is grieve. And it happens in all five stages. (With apologies to Elisabeth Kubler-Ross.)

Stage 1: Denial