As the confrontation with North Korea heated up, President Obama reversed course on one missile-defense decision, even as he proposed a defense budget that trimmed another half-billion dollars from the enterprise. This self-contradictory behavior on missile defense reflects the president’s ambivalence about a program that he doesn’t want, but knows he needs. As a…

When John Kerry was selected as U.S. Secretary of State, Korea watchers wondered which policy path he'd follow. Would he continue his predecessor Hillary Clinton's role as the backbone of the Obama administration, pushing for a firm policy toward the Kim regime? Or would he maintain his long-held advocacy for negotiations, even if it meant lowering the bar of Pyongyang's…

As Secretary of State John Kerry wings his way to Asia on his first trip there as our top diplomat, now is a good time to put North Korea’s dangerous game of belligerence, brinkmanship and blackmail into some much-needed perspective. Pyongyang has been threatening everything from another Korean War to a nuclear strike on US cities. It’s not likely going to do anything so…

As Secretary of State John Kerry wings his way to Asia on his first trip there as our top diplomat, now is a good time to put North Korea’s dangerous game of belligerence, brinkmanship and blackmail into some much-needed perspective. Pyongyang has been threatening everything from another Korean War to a nuclear strike on US cities. It’s not likely going to do anything so…

In its latest effort to ratchet up tensions on the Korean Peninsula, North Korea may go ballistic — literally — as soon as tomorrow, possibly launching an intermediate-range “Musudan” missile from its east coast, according to press reports. The big question is: at who or what? The “good” news is that the range of the mobile Musudan missile isn’t well-suited for…

There’s a reason rogue regimes such as North Korea try so hard to acquire nuclear capability. It empowers their conventional aggression by protecting them from reprisals that threaten to remove them from power. That’s because the civilized world knows that, if pushed too far, the regimes can use nuclear weapons against undefended targets. Even if the threat to launch is a…

North Korea routinely threatens to annihilate South Korea, the United States, and Japan. Of course, countless threats are never carried out and are meant as much to bolster the North Korean domestic audience as well as intimidate its neighbors. Yet North Korea has also repeatedly attacked allied military and civilian targets. After its recent successful long-range…

North Koreans are famous for belligerent rhetoric. Most recently, they’ve threatened to turn Seoul into a “sea of fire.” The North’s new leader, Kim Jong-un, comes across as a madman strutting around in a 1950s cartoon. Such flamboyance can tempt people to dismiss the North Koreans as either a joke or too crazy to be taken seriously. This is a mistake. They are not crazy,…

When considering recent North Korean promises of devastating military strikes against the United States and South Korea, it’s important to understand that Pyongyang carries out its threats — except when it doesn’t. Despite this, it’s probably best not to take any chances. Once again, North Korea is pushing tensions in Northeast Asia to a fever-pitch. In addition to…