When the USS Pueblo was hijacked in international waters by the NKoreans in 1968, we allowed the crew to remain captives of the NKoreans for 11 months rather than create an "international incident".
IMO, there would be fewer possibilities for "international incidents" if response was swift and sure everytime a rogue nation pulled a stunt like this. After the Pueblo was hijacked, the Enterprise was off the coast of NKorea the next day. Had I been in charge, I'd have parked 5 F-4s out the deck and invited the NKoreans to come take a look. Then, I'd let them know that they had 24 hours to release the ship and the crew intact. After that, a NKorean city would disappear every 2 hours until the ship and crew were released or there just wasn't anything left to destroy.
Unfortunately, we abandoned that crew to the "negotiators" for 11 months!! BS!!!
"IMO, there would be fewer possibilities for "international incidents" if response was swift and sure everytime a rogue nation pulled a stunt like this"
Indeed!