Prof Robert Patman said this week North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was ''definitely dangerous'' but the rising tensions did not amount to ''a rerun of the Cuban Missile Crisis''.
''It's a dangerous situation but I don't think the world's on the verge of a nuclear holocaust.
''A lot of people have overplayed this crisis,'' he said.
There was a ''massive mismatch in power'', including in nuclear weapon strength, between the United States and North Korea.
And the crisis was not just between the US and North Korea, but between North Korea and ''much of the world, including its ally, China''.
North Korea ''often rattles the sabre''. The country's leader was running a ''very repressive dictatorship'', and had killed two members of his own family.
Some people had been ''rattled'' by some ''fiery'' language on both sides, but it was important to distinguish between what was being declared as policies by the respective leaders and the substance of what they were actually doing.
The planned start of talks this week between North and South Korea over the North's proposed participation in the Winter Olympics was also a ''good step'' towards reducing tensions.
Prof Patman, of the Otago politics department, said about 70% of New Zealand's trade and investment was in the Asia Pacific, and any outbreak of hostilities would be damaging not only for countries in the area but also for our interests.
It was clear that New Zealand must actively encourage and support international efforts to curb North Korea's nuclear weapons programme and there was already widespread agreement that the Korean peninsula should be nuclear weapon-free.
New Zealand had a good relationship with China and a very good relationship with the United States, and was known to have an independent viewpoint on foreign affairs.
Mr Peters had made an earlier visit to North Korea as foreign minister in 2007, and had last year met US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
It was unclear if Mr Peters would be asked to help establish further links with North Korea.
But, in any case, New Zealand should continue to pursue its own independent approach, neither supporting ''America First'' nor endorsing Chinese policies over the South China Sea, he said.
