A Recommendation on How to Live with a Nuclear North Korea

John Wolfsthal a nuclear policy expert writes in Foreign Policy about how the United States needs to accept North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and learn to live it like we have China and other countries:

At the same time, we have to accept that the game has changed. The dangers of a military conflict between the United States and North Korea have global implications. This means the United States and North Korea must begin immediate talks to avoid such conflicts, and to communicate directly to North Korea’s leaders exactly what actions would require a direct U.S. military response. We have had to do this as other states gained nuclear capabilities, because failure to do so left too much to chance. This is no concession, but self-preservation.

This list is not exhaustive, but the president, his cabinet and advisors, and our leaders in Congress need to begin the long-overdue conversation about what North Korean actions we seek to prevent. Unlike Trump’s tweets, our conclusions need to be specific and we need to back them up, lest confidence in U.S. commitments — to deter our enemies and protect our allies — gets even weaker. [Foreign Policy]

You can read the rest at the link, but his recommendations include communicating to the Kim regime that proliferation will lead to a “direct response” whatever that means.  North Korea has already tried to proliferate nuclear technology to Syria and nothing happened to them then.  So would the US be willing to attack North Korea in future if it tries to proliferate again?  I am skeptical.  He also recommends that the US respond to proliferating missile technology.  They have already done this with little consequence as well.  He also thinks that North Korea needs to be engaged at the sub strategic level when they commit bad acts such as cyber attacks.