As US Secretary of State John Kerry travels to South Korea, China and Japan, he needs to be aware that his country holds the key to alleviating the suffocating tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

The visit comes as the peninsula seems to be on the edge of military conflict. Reports about an imminent missile launch by Pyongyang have spread jitters across Northeast Asia and the broader international community.

It is widely believed that the top US diplomat's paramount mission in the ongoing Asia tour is to reduce the tensions and prevent the region from plunging into a nuclear war.

As an ancient Chinese saying goes, let the one who tied the bell on the tiger take it off. In other words, whoever started the trouble should end it.

The crux of the long-running Korean Peninsula issue lies in the lack of mutual trust between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United States. Kerry's visit provides a fine opportunity for Washington to untie the knot it has tied with Pyongyang.

Over the past decades, the United States has wrongfully believed in sanctions and show of power, only to find its hostilities with the DPRK running ever high and the regional situation further complicated.

Yet it seems that Washington has not realized the damage of its policy and practice. It sent B-52 and B-2 bombers to South Korea to participate in war games, which was responded by the DPRK's announcement to enter a "state of war" with South Korea.

The latest flare-up of tensions has once again proved the ineffectiveness of Washington's punishment-dominated policy toward the DPRK.

To pull the region back from the brink of possible war, the United States should first ditch its confrontational approach and engage in talks with Pyongyang to address the latter's strong sense of insecurity.

The US government could, via Kerry's Asia tour, deliver benign messages to the DPRK and create favorable conditions to revive the long-stalled six-party talks, the most viable mechanism to guarantee the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula.

A possible military conflict on the peninsula would inflict a cost that is too colossal to calculate, while a stable Korean Peninsula serves the interests of all parties, including the United States.

Therefore, the United States, always painting itself as a constructive force in maintaining peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific, needs to take on its due onus and choose the right course to reduce tensions with the DPRK, so as to secure peace in the region.