North Korea just conducted its fifth nuclear test. The North is likely to be one of the worst headaches, or maybe nightmares, for the next U.S. president. He or she "must find a way to neuter Mr. Kim's outlandish and frightening peril," intoned The Washington Post.
Of course, four successive presidents have sought to do so. Yet nothing they tried worked. Experience suggests that "neutering" Pyongyang is beyond the power of the U.S. president, at least at a cost Americans are willing to bear.
The United States should try a different approach. Washington should withdraw from the Korean vortex. Then North Korea would be primarily a problem for its neighbors, who have the most at stake.