Japan's fevered reaction to North Korea's recent missile tests should not surprise. It is yet another example of the emotional way that an otherwise admirable nation finds it hard to separate causes from effects.

In 1994, North Korea was just hours away from having its nuclear facilities bombed by the United States. The attack was averted at the last moment by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, visiting Pyongyang and hammering out an agreed framework to solve the nuclear dispute.

But almost from the start, the dominant conservatives in the U.S. Congress made it clear they opposed the agreement, especially its promise eventually to normalize relations with the U.S. Believing North Korea was on the point of economic and social collapse, they wanted a policy of confrontation and regime change. That policy was formally endorsed in January 2002 when U.S. President George W. Bush included North Korea in his "axis of evil."