It's sometimes remarked that North Korea resembles a cult. There's the charismatic leader, the strict hierarchy, the high degree of control, and so on. If there's something to that, then the UN Security Council's response to the North Korean nuclear test is likely to make things worse, not better.
The solution to the North Korea problem lies ultimately with the North Koreans. Currently, though, they are choosing to follow their Dear Leader. Members of cults are more likely to leave their cult if they are exposed to alternative belief-systems and sources of information. The North Korean people are more likely to overthrow their cultic system if the walls between themselves and the outside world are gradually dismantled.
Although it may seem counterintuitive or even crazy, the way to respond to North Korea's achievement of going nuclear would have been to play along with it. The Security Council could have simultaneously congratulated Kim Jong Il on the DPRK's success, as well as expressing its disapproval. The Dear Leader could have been invited on state visits to Seoul, Beijing and Moscow. Economic aid should have been offered, scientific exchanges organized, and trade delegations sent. Dismantle the walls and let the people free themselves. Crazy situations sometimes call for seemingly crazy responses, as RD Laing once demonstrated.
Instead, the 'international community' has responded by building the walls higher by applying new sanctions. Even though the sanctions are not directly targeted at the North Korean people, their effect will be to add to the populace's starvation of contact with the outside world. If North Korea is like a cult, the UNSC's response to the DPRK going nuclear is itself crazy and will only make things worse. 'Deviance amplification', as some sociologists might call it.