Editorial: North Korea blues? Relax, Winston's got this

This time it is hoped Winston Peters can broker more than protection for birds.

That Winston Peters could be co-opted as a deal broker for the West and might meet with North Korea's Kim Jong-un about his nuclear ambitions raises a smile.

He's done it before. In 2007 the mission was the same, ask Kim to give up his nukes. And far from coming home empty-handed, Winston won a superb victory, securing haven for 97,000 migrating birds to land safely in North Korea.

Kim kept his nukes.

Where US presidents have feared to tread I can imagine our Winston happily popping over to Pyongyang, perhaps bearing gifts of fine cigars and aged brandy. He and Kim would relax in a pair of cosy leather chairs and chat about racehorses and possibly basketball because Kim's apparently a fan.

Certainly US' Rex Tillerson was impressed enough to ask Winston to go back to Kim, have a brandy and a chat, and this time get him to promise to denuclearise North Korea.

This will place Kim's regime in jeopardy because he will no longer have a big stick to wave at aggressors and will be forced to watch passively while South Korea and the US play "let's attack Kim" games off its coastline.

It had better be very good brandy.

More seriously though, Winston's possible involvement brings the North Korean crisis uncomfortably that much closer to home.

The Hermit Kingdom has not fired a missile or exploded a nuclear device in 60-something days now.

We can only hope this is a positive sign and that peaceful progress may be forthcoming - and that it is not merely the calm before the storm.

This time it is hoped Winston can broker more than protection for birds.