The time to pay for our sins has come. The United States has a huge problem in Pyongyang as well as a legacy of responsibility regarding Korea. Most readers will readily acknowledge the danger that a nuclear weapons and intercontinental missile equipped North Korea presents. Many will also recognize that the window for action is rapidly closing.

What some in the West do not accept is that, while South Korea and other states in Northeast Asia have certain levels of responsibility for their own security and well-being, Washington must shoulder much of the obligation for this, for at least two reasons. The first is that the U.S. is party to a number of regional treaties, and that as the last remaining world power, only it has the ability to deal with certain international affairs.