Second, rather than publicly whining about the North's plans, fretting over the supposed threat posed, and demanding that the Kim regime desist from its plans, friendly nations should quietly inform Pyongyang that they will offer no benefits while it is ratcheting up tensions. If the DPRK responds positively, however, Washington should offer diplomatic recognition and the end of trade sanctions, small concessions in areas where punitive policies have manifestly failed. The prospect of a peace treaty with America, full normalization of political and economic relations with the United States, expanded trade with and aid from South Korea and Japan, and full participation in international institutions might beckon Pyongyang forward. Even if further agreements are not reached, little will have been lost. Indeed, both diplomatic ties and economic cooperation would offer American policy makers a useful window into North Korean society as well as a modest opportunity to introduce Western values in the North. The United States should have more directly engaged the DPRK years ago.

North Korea is a problem likely to be long with us. "We think it's important to send a strong message to North Korea that it can't act with impunity," said America's UN Ambassador Susan Rice. Yet the latest missile launch is but a minor issue between America and Pyongyang, dwarfed by both the North's nuclear program and its massive human-rights violations. The Obama administration should recognize the limitations inherent to any DPRK policy before formulating and implementing its own approach. If success is possible, it will come only slowly, painfully, and incrementally, and as a result of a limited agenda realistically implemented.

Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. A former special assistant to President Reagan, he is the author of Tripwire: Korea and U.S. Foreign Policy in a Changed World (Cato Institute) and co-author of The Korean Conundrum: America's Troubled Relations with North and South
Korea (Palgrave/Macmillan).