A new book offers useful insights into the North Korean mindset, but it overlooks the regime's durability and the reformist bent of its new leader, Kim Jong-un. The regime is here to stay, and the United States should pursue more peaceful relations.

Two trends represent Korea today: South Korea's extraordinary economic boom and North Korea's stagnation and provocation.

Is it too late to convince North Korea and Iran to dismantle their nuclear programs?

By exposing them to the truth about their impoverishment and about the prosperity of their South Korean cousins, the United States can encourage North Koreans to change the regime in Pyongyang.

Financial sanctions have become a key tool of U.S. foreign policy. Measures taken against Iran and North Korea make clear that this new financial statecraft can be effective, but true success will require persuading global banks to accept a shared sense of risk.

Why North Korea will not change.

The outcome of the North Korean nuclear saga has been held up as an example of the Bush administration defying its bellicose reputation and using multilateralism and diplomacy to defuse a crisis. But in fact, the story is one of extremely poor policymaking and a persistent failure to devise a coherent strategy -- with the result that North Korea has managed to dramatically expand its nuclear capability.

These teaching notes, by CFR Adjunct Senior Fellow Scott A. Snyder, feature discussion questions and additional projects for educators to supplement the CFR-sponsored Independent Task Force report, U.S. Policy Toward the Korean Peninsula. In this report, a bipartisan group of eminent leaders in the fields of defense policy, weapons of mass destruction, human rights, and academia discuss their consensus on these issues and provide a range of recommendations for U.S. policy toward North and South Korea.

This module features teaching notes by CFR Senior Fellow and Director of CFR's Center for Preventative Action Paul B. Stares, coauthor of Preparing for Sudden Change in North Korea, along with other resources to supplement the text. This Council Special Report addresses the foreign policy challenge of how the United States and its allies can prepare for the possibility of sudden and destabilizing change in North Korea.

Even if a U.S. assessment of North Korea's food situation echoes a UN report earlier this year that warned of shortages, debate rages about whether new food aid should be provided to a recalcitrant Pyongyang.

North Korea's strike on Yeonpyeong Island is part of a military escalation designed to strengthen the authority of leader-in-waiting Kim Jong-Un, say experts, and underscores Washington's frustrations with Pyongyang and Beijing.

A meeting of North Korean officials is expected to signal succession to Kim Jong-Il. Experts say the power transition is unlikely to herald reforms, and urge efforts to engage with the regime.

Korean Peninsula tensions are high, in part fueled by U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises. Experts say the United States must continue to work toward North Korea's denuclearization and prepare for volatility with a leadership change in Pyongyang.

North Korea has resisted efforts to divulge the full scale of its nuclear program, despite U.S. concessions, but President-elect Barack Obama faces little alternative to the troubled policy of engagement.

The latest declaration from North Korea has brought rewards from Washington but experts say bigger challenges lie ahead.

Washington’s latest revisions to its stance on North Korea nuclear-disarmament talks, experts say, threatens to undermine counter-proliferation efforts.

A conservative parliament may provide further impetus to South Korean president to maintain a harder line on Pyongyang.

North Korea’s missed deadline on its denuclearization pact and new tough rhetoric revive concerns about the regime’s sincerity and stability.