There is, the article says (my typing from the print edition), a bright side for President Obama and our allies:
So North Korea remains a rogue state with an alarming nuclear programme rather than being a nuclear power in its own right.Mr Obama's North Korean policy is unformulated, and his foreign-policy and security team incomplete. But the clearer the shortcomings of the North's nuclear programmes, the less Mr Obama will be inclined to rush like his predecessor into deals that quickly unravel. That will reassure South Korea and Japan, which despaired that Mr Bush's negotiations sometimes allowed North Korea to drive a wedge between America and its allies.
The horror! The loyal opposition wanted us to engage North Korea directly even as our allies were worried that our diplomacy might, by dealing with North Korea directly, disregard our allies!
So by having no plan to do anything unilaterally about North Korea, we at least won't worry our allies. Which is fine by me. I just want North Korea to quietly die.
The article also proposes to continue the six-party talks whether North Korea is there or not. We have no joint 5-party plans for North Korea's collapse (I assume the specificity means each of us has plans on our own or join plans with our allies), so this topic could be the subject for our meetings.
Which is also fine. We might have to partition North Korea since nobody wants the other side to have all of North Korea, with the other side's forces either on the Yalu or overlooking Seoul (and closer to Japan).
