Part of the 'problem' if such a debacle can be so named is that the USA has little idea about the North Korean mindset. The USA is missing a great opportunity to begin speaking with North Korea. Barack Obama should pick up the phone and talk some basketball with Kim Jong-un. The talk would of course be allegorical, but the results would be concrete.

North Americans tend to underestimate the meaning and subsequent importance of 'face' in the Korean mind. They are an extremely proud people who will choose death before dishonour, and they don't need tattoos to reinforce that in their own minds. When you have a Korean friend, you have a friend who will extend that courtesy to you; when you have a Korean enemy . . . .

In my middle age I got lucky in a martial arts match with a Korean opponent and landed a mid-section spin back kick. He dropped and as is customary, I turned my back and knelt because it is lèse-majesté to witness your opponent in bad shape. He was up and ready in less than a minute and we resumed the fight. I lost, but was able to pass the message to him through the referee that he was one tough cookie and I would have lost sooner had I not had that one lucky kick. Later in the day he taught me a few things I didn't know and we parted friends. I don't doubt that were we to meet again these thirty or so years later we would remember each other. There's a lesson in there I wish world leaders would awaken to, but I am not holding my breath.