WATCH: American Jailed In North Korea Spoke Of 'Collapsing'... 
Is China Seeking Regime-Change In North Korea? 
NKorea Releases Detained Chinese Fishing Boat 
China Asks NKorea To Release Fishing Boat, Crew 
NKorea Fires Sixth Missile Into Sea
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For now, the best course of action is minimalism. There's no need to keep announcing that North Korea's nuclear and missile tests are unacceptable: Kim knows this.
An intelligent, rational, and balanced American president would realize -- even if he had only an introductory course in abnormal psychology -- that it is time to stop our military maneuvers in South Korea, now, immediately, and without equivocation.
Being the youngest of three brothers, Kim Jong-Un may have been driven by a need to distance himself from the identities of his very different older brothers and by gaining the favor of his father.
I wonder if the current crisis with North Korea might just end around the time that Exercise Foal Eagle does. That's this year's annual joint military exercise by the U.S. and South Korea, running from March 1 through April 30.
The last thing the Chinese want is either a greater American military or naval presence in Northeast Asia or refugee flows from a collapsing North Korean government. We want Beijing to urge the North to the table in the proper frame of mind, using influence only they have.
The "Pacific pivot" of the United States is nothing new. At the same time, it doesn't really exist. And yet, even though it doesn't exist, this pivot is partly responsible for the escalation of tensions in and around the Korean peninsula.
Although North Korea has a long tradition of eccentric behavior, this latest line of saber rattling has set a dangerous and reckless precedent.
I've seen this product countless times before. I remember buying it, in fact, a few years ago. I ingested it and convinced others of its potency, of its value as a product. So what's different about it this time? What's it doing back on the shelf, a seemingly old product with a new label?
Friedman has stumbled upon a nifty cliché, perhaps while watching March Madness, and then tried to fit the world and his own favorite causes around it. To make it work he has to distort the past and exaggerate the present, like a petulant parent.
Missiles have been moved, the Kaesong Industrial Complex is on the brink of a complete shutdown, and the world is waiting to see whether Kim Jong Un's militant rhetoric is all one giant bluff.
South Korea is always in a state of war with its Northern neighbor. Today is no different from yesterday, last year, or even 10 years ago. Tomorrow, next week, next year will follow the same pattern.
Is the current Kim really ready to attack any of his neighbors just to prove that he really is crazy? Even if he could escape utter destruction, what would he possibly accomplish?
As much as some U.S. policymakers and most American experts detest diplomacy with Pyongyang, they now face a pressing issue that has upended their earlier calculations. The U.S. must rely on diplomacy once again.
America's greatest tool to force change is not sanctions, but economic engagement
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