North Korea is testing how much the Obama administration will give to maintain the fiction of diplomatic progress.

For East Asian politicos, there’s not that much to grab headline attention in the world’s most economically dynamic region. Or maybe there is.

Ever since its founding in 1948, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has maintained an aggressive and bellicose international security posture. Today, fully two decades after the end of the Cold War, North Korea's external defense and security policies look arguably more extreme and anomalous than ever.

It’s folly to expect Beijing to seriously help in curbing Pyongyang.

Barack Obama’s presidency has had profoundly negative consequences for our national security. From debilitating cuts in defense budgets, to gutting national missile defense efforts, to his unwillingness to acknowledge a continuing war against terrorism, to his inability to stem the nuclear proliferation threats posed by North Korea and Iran....the picture is bleak.

The Bush and Obama administrations' policy toward North Korea--avoid angering Beijing's leaders in hopes that they will voluntarily help in Pyongyang--has proven ineffective. It's time to coerce China.

Washington is already in mini-crisis mode over North Korea’s planned launch of a “satellite” (actually, an intercontinental ballistic missile)...Now comes word from South Korea that Pyongyang may also be planning another nuclear test.

Blowing up North Korea's missile would help achieve a durable peace.