Try as it might, the United States cannot push the issue of North Korean nuclear proliferation to one side so energies can be devoted to waging war on Iraq. Pyongyang has cleverly ensured Washington keeps one eye on Northeast Asia and the other on the Persian Gulf.
Such diplomatic games are nothing new to North Korea, which has always been able to confuse its opponents. Are its intentions to develop nuclear weapons, broker new economic and security agreements with the region's power-broker, the US, or simply to deflect attention away from Iraq?
Four months after North Korea sparked the latest standoff with the US by admitting to a secret nuclear programme, President George W. Bush is still groping for a solution. War cannot be an option for the densely-populated region, especially if nuclear weapons have been developed by North Korea.
Mr Bush's latest weapon is Secretary of State Colin Powell, who arrives in the region today for visits to China, Japan and South Korea. His mission, built around incoming South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun's inauguration on Tuesday, is to find common ground where none has been possible.
Since the start of the crisis, Mr Bush and his top officials have stubbornly refused to talk to North Korea, saying that first it must scrap its nuclear ambitions. The more obstinate the US has been, the more North Korea has pushed its advantage, expelling international inspectors, withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and threatening to restart a reactor.
Pyongyang blames Mr Bush for the crisis by ignoring the advances in relations brokered by his predecessor, Bill Clinton, and opting for a policy enshrined around the belief that North Korea is part of an 'axis of evil'.