Stephen Noerper, Senior Fellow at the EastWest Institute and a Nautilus Institute Senior Associate, writes, “A Chinese adage suggests that a ‘cornered dog bites.’ President Obama and the international community should signal that we are not simply responding to a crisis or ‘managing’ the North Korean problem. It is time to address and, where possible, eliminate problem areas with North Korea-while maintaining a ‘stern and unified’ stance on the core issues.”

Mark J. Valencia, a maritime policy analyst based in Kaneohe, Hawaii, writes, “US government arguments and immediate follow up actions regarding the incident seem to constitute a ‘might makes right’ approach that only increases the damage being done to the US image in Asia. Real change is needed in US maritime diplomacy in Asia and elsewhere.”

Paul Carroll, Program Director at the Ploughshares Fund, writes, “Depending on how the U.S. responds to any DPRK action, as well as our partners in the region, we may be in for rough stretch of road for some time. The alternative could be that if the responses are creative and bold, we may just be able to snatch some victory from the jaws of defeat and make some progress toward the goals of denuclearizing the peninsula and transforming the regional security situation.”