William F. Buckley Jr. on North Korea, and whom it affects the most:

For obvious reasons, the nations involved simply assume that the United States is going to dictate policy though China, and it is in Peking that the six powers last convened. It is a responsibility of President Bush to address the nations on the borders and persuade them that it is they who have to devise policies to cope with Kim Jong Il, because they must contain their deadly dangerous neighbor. North Korea is 10,000 miles away from our heartland.

China, Russia, South Korea, and Japan are immediately affected by the rise of Pyongyang to nuclear status. It is they that need to set policy, and petition the world for relevant aid in implementing it.

This is exactly right.

North Korea wants to frame this as a US vs. NK issue (and again, so do some on the Left). It's not, and shouldn't be. The most directly affected parties are South Korea, Japan, and China. The US can and should be a party to talks, but should not be the primary one, and definitely shouldn't be the only one. That's just plain stupid.