In one week from next Wednesday, on the first day of the new decade, Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader, will have to make a choice: What to do when his publicly declared year-end deadline for diplomacy with the U.S. arrives, and there’s still no deal in sight?

That question seems to have everyone guessing.

The U.S. commander of Pacific Air Forces, Gen. Charles Q. Brown, said last week that he expects the DPRK to launch “some kind of long-range ballistic missile” at the end of the year.

He also said — in the same interview — that it’s