What strategic approach should the US take towards North Korea, and why?
Well said.
And instead of yammering on about "all options are on the table," etc etc, why doesn't the U.S. just give N. Korea what it has wanted all along: a promise that Uncle Sam won't invade the tiny wacko nation.
That strategy -- rather than parking a nuclear fleet in the Korean Peninsula -- might yield a few results.
Given the U.S. track record, it would be stupid for any nation that the neocon strategists have labelled as "evil"  to not develop nuclear weapons.
Saddam Hussein opened his country up to UN inspectors to prove he didn't have chemical or nuclear weapons, which he didn't. The U.S.  then made up false intelligence to justify invading and reducing Iraq to rubble.
Lil Kim is smart to carry the big nuclear stick. It is the only thing the U.S. respects.