North Korea’s warning that the U.S. must change its policy by the end of the year has put pressure on the dialogue process, with indications pointing to a high likelihood of a North Korean policy shift or provocation sometime in the new year.

A coordinated, multilateral response is certainly the best means of averting a crisis and achieving the common goal of peaceful denuclearization, but developments suggest that the regional dynamic has changed to a significant degree, making this cooperation more difficult than before. 

In the last two years, inflection points coming from