( CNN ) -- In the next week North Korea will launch a satellite to coincide with the 100th birthday of Kim Il Sung , the late `` Great Leader , '' and the man perhaps most responsible for the reclusive state 's status as the world 's most irresponsible country . But Kim 's `` birthday present '' also means North Korea 's people will have to forgo 240,000 metric tons of food aid from the United States , as well as the prospect of further negotiations aimed at bringing their country in from the cold . There are no good options for how we should respond . There never are with the North Koreans . But working closely with our partners is a good place to start . We must ensure the launch strengthens our partnerships rather than weakens them . It is difficult at this point to assess what happened to make the North Koreans essentially renege on the deal . Many analysts have made the case that this is typical North Korean behavior . That is true , but with an important caveat : The North Koreans usual way of doing things is first to pull out of a negotiation over some issue that would not be an issue among normal countries , but becomes a deal breaker for this `` exceptional nation . '' North Korea parades launch pad for world media . After a period of time , the North Koreans tend to follow up their effective walkout with a provocative act such as a missile test . In the case of the February 29 agreement , however , the negotiations had hardly broken down . By all accounts the atmosphere was good . The process was very much on track , and -- dare one use a word that should not be used in the context of North Korean negotiations -- there was optimism . Optimism that finally the momentum was being cranked up . Another far more spurious explanation has been to blame the victim , in this case , the United States . The idea is that the U.S. negotiators , having conducted months of painstaking preliminary work including with the Chinese and the South Koreans , somehow failed to nail down a clear pledge from the North Koreans , to the effect that a so-called space launch would be on the proscribed list . Obama warns against provocation . This farcical argument , prevalent among those who have convinced themselves that they would have been more competent than the U.S. negotiators , has been `` confirmed '' by the North Koreans themselves -- surprise , surprise -- who deny the launch was even mentioned in negotiations . Besides , the North Koreans view their space program as a kind of NASA of their own , and how could anyone think the launch was anything but their own contribution to the peaceful exploration of space ? A far more likely explanation is that -- surprise , surprise -- North Korea did not have its act together . The people negotiating the food aid were not the same as those launching the missile . Presumably , the rift was civil-military , with the former more interested in feeding its people than the latter . One can imagine as well various conspiracy theories to explain the situation . After all , even dictatorships experience political struggles . With a free-for-all political scene , pitting the boy-dictator-wannabe , buttressed by his ambitious aunt and often antagonistic uncle , against a grouchy and arrogant military establishment , it could well be that the agreement was scuttled as part of an ongoing battle to settle personal rivalries . The standard of living in North Korea 's upper aristocratic nomenclature may not be much better than that of a Seoul taxi driver , but it 's state power that counts , not just the supposed access to luxury goods . Some will say we have little choice but to wait and watch , and perhaps harvest the intelligence trove that may , so to speak , fall our way . Military solutions are least desirable , but so would be the prospect of a North Korean rocket falling on the soil of an ally , unopposed by an anti-missile system . We must protect our allies from a missile threat . Looking beyond the immediate crisis , we need a strategy that addresses any concerns that America 's allies may have that our nuclear umbrella is not enough . We must continue to work closely with South Korea politically and diplomatically . We failed to do that in the early 2000s , with one consequence being that many South Koreans began regarding the North Koreans as our victims rather than one of the world 's miscreants . We have worked closely with China , but perhaps it is time for that ambitious nation , so preoccupied by its internal affairs of late , to step it up and start attaching some sense of urgency to addressing the problems caused by its support for a country that would not last a week without it . Above all , we need to remain patient and calm with the resolve to understand that we can not walk away from the problem . We need to work with others and strengthen the regional partnerships we have -- and will need -- if the North Korean problem is ever to be solved . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Christopher R. Hill .
North Korea says it plans to launch a rocket carrying a satellite this month . Other countries say the move is a cover for a ballistic missile test . Hill : U.S. must work closely with its regional partner to resolve the crisis . The collapse of an earlier deal hints at internal struggles in N. Korea , Hill says .