The following article is an opinion piece by Rob York, director for regional affairs at the Pacific Forum. Views expressed in opinion articles are exclusively the author’s own and do not represent those of NK News.

Jeffrey Lewis of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies is one of the preeminent experts on nuclear policy, especially as relates to North Korea. He also evidently knows how to set off debate, as he did among Korea watchers with his recent New York Times op-ed arguing that the U.S. should “contemplate the unthinkable” and accept that North Korea is a nuclear state.