What N Korea needs are 'steaks and sledgehammers'

A NEW surge of strategic creativity would help defuse the crisis on the Korean peninsula.

Two crucial initiatives - American-led diplomacy and the Six-Party Talks to end North Korea's nuclear programme - have failed over the last three decades.

An innovative proposal to replace the old carrots-and-sticks tactic with "steaks and sledgehammers" may stand a better chance.

American geostrategic analysts Michael O'Hanlon and Mike Mochizuki have recommended a new approach in their book Crisis On The Korean Peninsula: How To Deal With A Nuclear North Korea.

They call …