Talk to, not at, North Korea's Kim Jong Un

EVERY missile that North Korea hurls towards neighbouring countries - the latest of which flew over Japan's Hokkaido island this week - gets just impotent verbal retorts from the likes of US President Donald Trump, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

Intolerable, outrageous and unacceptable are among the most favoured adjectives used against the supposedly "mad" behaviour of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. And yet, the world has little alternative but to tolerate and accept what he is doing. The situation appears to be one of impasse or stalemate.

Yet, there may be a way out. It involves replacing diatribe (such as Mr Trump's threat to rain down "fire and fury" upon Pyongyang) with dialogue - real face-to-face dialogue and not skulking, quasi diplomatic or "back channel" encounters.