Publication

This paper examines the policy options available to the international community in the case of a North Korean missile test in the spring of 2009. The authors argue that the international community needs to tread cautiously in the face of North Korean provocations and should come up with a restrained, united and firm response to the prospective test. They caution against overreaction that risks jeopardizing the Six Party talks and, at worst, triggering all-out war on the peninsula. The authors, however, doubt the North's ability to stage a successful launch.