CFR's Sheila Smith says Pyongyang's latest attempt at a rocket launch shows the regime is clearly bent on acquiring a nuclear delivery capability. She says Washington must reassure North Korea that diplomacy is the only way forward.

Scott A. Snyder discusses the political targets of North Korea's missile test.

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.

Scott A Snyder discusses challenges to U.S. relations with the Korean Peninsula.

This panel discusses a Council on Foreign Relations special report, "Preparing for Sudden Change in North Korea."

Don Oberdorfer, a leading expert on North and South Korea, says he sees no evidence North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has moved to relinquish control, despite reports concerning his illness and succession.

North Korea has long been a serious concern to Washington. Now, with President Kim Jong-Il reportedly in bad health and possibly naming a successor, the United States must consider possible outcomes should the situation deteriorate and the current North Korean government collapse. This report examines the challenges that these scenarios would pose--ranging from securing Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal to providing humanitarian assistance--in the context of the interests of the United States and others in its valuable recommendations.

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.

Scott Snyder  writes that "on the list of potential crises that the Obama administration will inherit come January 20th will be the task of achieving the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula."

Listen to experts discuss priorities for the new administration with regard to the North Korean nuclear issue.

Gary Samore, who was active in nuclear diplomacy with North Korea in the Clinton administration, says the latest agreement between the United States and North Korea is only a "very modest step forward" because it allows the next administration to proceed further in seeking a nuclear-disarmed North Korea.

Don Oberdorfer, an expert on the two Koreas, says the recent street protests ostensibly against the import of U.S. beef are much more political protests against the new conservative government in Seoul.