While difficult to achieve, fundamental disability reform is possible.

Even those who have never negotiated with North Korea could have told the Obama administration, “I told you so.”

Kim Jong-il's death perforce marks a turning point in modern Korean history. Not since Douglas MacArthur’s push toward the Yalu has the future of the North Korean regime been as uncertain as it is today.

With the death of North Korea's "Dear Leader" Kim Jong Il, understanding the country's succession process is central to divining the future of this anachronistic, frustratingly cryptic, and often deliberately menacing government.

There are three things to keep in mind about Kim Jong Il’s death.

In the coming confused days, the United States and South Korea should make clear to Pyongyang’s diplomats that no destabilizing actions will be tolerated and that the two will act to protect their joint interests and uphold peace on the peninsula and in the region, including Japan.

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

Kim Jong Il's search for a successor could turn out to be bigger news than this weekend's missile launch.