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North Korean nuclear talks
should go the distance

THE ISSUE Six-nation negotiations have begun in Beijing with the goal of nuclear disarmament of North Korea.

BILATERAL talks between U.S. and North Korean officials provided an encouraging jump start to today's opening of six-way negotiations in Beijing aimed at defusing the North's nuclear arms program. Although no quick resolution is expected, the possibility of an eventual nuclear-free Korean peninsula should lead to sustained negotiations until the goal is reached.

Three previous rounds of talks over the past two years have been limited to three days each. The last negotiations more than a year ago ended with North Korea rejecting the U.S. insistence that it dismantle all its nuclear programs before receiving energy and other assistance.

Inflammatory rhetoric from both sides has subsided in recent months, with President Bush referring to the North's leader as "Mister Kim Jong-il." North Korea said last month it was willing to resume the talks, and Kim proposed last week replacing the 1953 armistice with a peace treaty officially ending the Korean War and establishing diplomatic relations with the U.S.

The Bush administration has insisted in the past on six-way talks, including South Korea, Japan, China and Russia, although acknowledging in off-the-record background briefings for reporters that bilateral contact had taken place. American envoy Christopher Hill met with North Korean officials yesterday after telling reporters, "Right now, this is the time to have these bilateral consultations."

Although North Korea has produced enough fissile material to build up to eight nuclear weapons, its nuclear capability remains a mystery. American intelligence relies mainly on observation by satellite.

While some officials talked earlier this year about observing a reviewing stand in North Korea for dignitaries to witness the test of a nuclear weapon, the CIA told Congress that such a test was unlikely anytime soon. The claim of a reviewing stand's existence turned out to be inconclusive, according to the New York Times. The CIA may be careful to avoid providing hollow information reminiscent of its flawed prewar intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and ties to al-Qaida.

Any agreement should include verification of North Korea's nuclear disarmament to avoid a repeat of Pyongyang's 2002 violation of a 1994 agreement with the Clinton administration. North Korean officials recently have said it was the "dying wish" of Kim's father and predecessor, Kim Il Sung, to see a nuclear-free peninsula.

North Korea walked away from last year's talks after being offered security assurances, food, energy and other inducements in return for disarmament. China already supplies 70 percent of its oil and a third of its food. Seoul has offered 2,000 megawatts of electricity and the U.S. says it will supply 50,000 tons of food.

Conditions have worsened in the North over the past year, amounting to a humanitarian crisis. International assistance on the scale offered should be worth dismantlement of its nuclear program.

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