North Korea's Threat of War: Obama in the Playroom

If anything is surprising, it is at best a rhetorical nuance. Kim Jong-Un seems to want to prove to North Korea’s generals that he is not a lightweight. The White House always expects his saber-rattling when joint maneuvers are taking place with South Korea — that is part of the ritual. But this time the tone is slightly more belligerent.

Are the North Koreans playing their usual game this time as well? Or does the supposed nuclear power tempt an irrational politician to try a more dangerous sort of all-or-nothing gamble? At the moment, Barack Obama’s experts do not see a reason to ring the alarm bells any louder than before. Yet nobody really knows anything specific as the hermetically closed-off country poses too many mysteries. Up until now Kim has been a fairly blank piece of paper.

The actual danger is the lack of communication channels. Americans and North Koreans should finally enter into a direct dialogue, just like Obama had proposed as a presidential candidate. Anything else will only fuel the rulers’ paranoia in such an isolated corner of the world. It will not be possible to convince Kim by pressure alone to give up his nuclear ambitions. If the conflict is not to get out of control, diplomacy and objective talks must help to decrease such a risk. In other words: It is up to Obama to take on the role of the grownup in the playroom.