Pyongyang must return to the negotiating table

I refer to the report “N Korea fires possible new missile, raising concerns” (May 15). I cannot understand how long this game of chicken, which must come at great expense for North Korea, can continue.

The money could be better used for its people. And eventually, would it mean going to war, the cost of which cannot be calculated? Would this be worth it? Would it not be better to negotiate with the United States and South Korea, joined by a few observers such as China, India and Russia, and reach some kind of arrangement in which all would stand to gain?

Let us not have to wait anxiously for North Korea’s next act, be it firing another missile or testing another explosive. It is a bit like the boy who cried wolf — too many times, in this case.

This could lose its effectiveness. So while North Korea now seems to have the attention of the world, especially the big powers, why not sit down and discuss what it truly wants?

It would ease the tensions on the Korean Peninsula and across East Asia, where the Americans are also based, as they have commitments to their allies.

The Chinese and the Russians would argue the same, as there has been so much aggravation over so little, all because someone wants more attention than usual. So why not give North Korea the attention and see what can be gained in the process?

The only way to do that is to have everyone at the negotiating table and everything out in the open, so that the time and resources being set aside for this issue can be used meaningfully elsewhere, to everyone’s benefit.