What now for US policy toward North Korea?

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ended his moratorium on nuclear and long-range ballistic missile tests. North Korea, he says, will soon exhibit a new weapon for the world.

Some will now call for an immediate escalation against Kim. Indeed, some already have. Take President Trump’s former national security adviser, John Bolton. In a recent interview with Axios, Bolton questioned whether Trump is committed to preventing North Korea from reaching a long-range, nuclear-armed missile capability. Bolton said that if Trump was committed, he “would be pursuing a different course” involving the interception of North Korean smuggling operations off its coast.