Despite having little demonstrable interest in giving up its nuclear weapons, North Korea is once again headed for a negotiating table to do just that. That the North Koreans have been invited at all is a testament to the strange desperation of both the Obama administration and the South Korean Lee Myung-bak administration to return to the Six Party Talks.

The Obama administration’s newly released strategic guidance for the Defense Department emphasizes the importance of defending U.S. interests in the Asia-Pacific. It’s ironic that elements of the strategy suggest the United States will welcome more risk on the Korean peninsula.

The sorry history of nuclear negotiations with North Korea demonstrates that the international community has absolutely no reason to assume the current North Korean regime will voluntarily denuclearize.

Stability seems to be the watchword in the aftermath of Kim Jong-il’s death. Leaders in the United States, across Asia, and even in Europe have been calling for stability on the Korean peninsula. But as nice as stability might be, it is not difficult to imagine things getting very messy very quickly in Northeast Asia. Forthwith, the top five ways things could go wrong in the Hermit Kingdom.

AEI Scholar Michael Mazza offers his insight on North Korea's failure to launch a missile.

The latest developments on the Korean peninsula suggest that Seoul's new, more forceful posturing has been effective, and that the North is desperate for a reprieve from South Korean pressure.

“What happens next?” is not really the question we should be asking. More important is to ask what the United States wants to happen next, and what it can do to bring about that outcome.

North Korea's nuclear weapons program is a challenge that can be best managed by an approach involving all countries in Northeast Asia and the United States.