A Modest Proposal on North Korea

1. 
2.  Offer, in secret through the Chinese, to begin negotiations without preconditions, one-on-one, between North Korea and the US.  If they ignore the offer, make another offer in public.
3.  Remind the public that at present, North Korea and the US are still technically at war, and what exists is a 50+ year truce, not a peace treaty.
4.  Make secret, one-on-one negotiations with the North Koreans through a plenipotentary (authorized to make any deal at once) ambassador.
5.  Continue sanctions and a military cordon around North Korea until they agree to give up their nuclear weapons per the UN’s resolutions.
6.  Rinse and repeat.

(Note that the Chinese have declared that, if North Korea attacks the US or South Korea first, the US will have a free hand and China will “remain neutral.”  But that, if the US tries to unseat Kim or attacks first, China will defend North Korea.  It seems obvious that, with that Chinese statement, we have little to fear from the North Koreans; if they attack us, we can annihilate them and China will stand by and do nothing.)