Last month I visited Washington D.C. – and came back seriously worried about what I heard there. 

Talks with academics, experts, and officials have left an impression that the Korean Peninsula might soon face a crisis on a scale which has few, if any, precedents in living memory.

Of course, a measure of discretion is advisable, and I’d prefer to refrain from naming names and institutions, but the general atmosphere leaves little reason to doubt that for the first time since the early 1990s, “kinetic” action against North Korea is being discussed seriously by American decision makers and their advisers. Even