Once the current focus on negotiations with Iran to curb its nuclear weapons program ebbs, attention will inevitably turn once again to the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, as North Korea is formally known, and how to deal with it.  Already some pundits are wondering in what way U.S. talks with Iran can be leveraged to reopen discussions with North Korea.

Sooner or later, the U.S. will realize that talking with North Korea is better than ignoring it.  However, let us first recognize that one definition of either insanity or stupidity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results.  Let us hope that U.S. diplomacy takes a different path than it has followed for roughly two and a half decades.  An overview of these efforts is informative.