North Korea’s actions over the past month, including its restarting of its nuclear reactor at Yongbyon and its threats this week to conduct nuclear and ballistic missile tests, serve as the latest reminder that American policy toward Pyongyang has failed. Unfortunately, the Obama administration is likely to continue an approach to Pyongyang utilized by the Clinton and Bush administrations that has not prevented North Korea from obtaining a nuclear capability, developing the means to deliver it over great distances, and proliferating related technology.

The administration should consider alternatives. A successful North Korea policy needs to discard a key faulty assumption: that the regime will give up its sole lifeline for an ample amount of inducements. It is now clear that the Kim Jong Il regime has no intention of trading away its nuclear or missile programs. Those programs enable the regime to generate resources through proliferation proceeds and to extort foreign assistance. This sustenance allows Kim to sustain his brutal regime, which holds some 200,000 political prisoners.