The conventional wisdom is that the Bush administration, in its never-ending face-off with North Korea over its nuclear ambitions, has once again been the first to blink. President George W. Bush has been severely criticized for removing North Korea from the State Sponsors of Terrorism List prior to actual verification of North Korea's June 26 "complete and correct" nuclear declaration. The only thing that appears to be verified thus far is that Pyongyang's declaration was neither "complete" nor "correct."
Overlooked in the delisting debate is a significant potential breakthrough in the six-party process. IF the finally agreed upon verification regime, as described by Washington, is actually implemented. Washington may have once again settled for half a loaf, but if the verification agreement results in an accurate accounting of Pyongyang's plutonium stockpiles, it will at least be the right half.
The U.S.-North Korea joint document on verification will be reviewed at the next six-party talks meeting where it will be finalized and formally adopted. Once it has been "six-partyized" it will presumably be released to the general public. (One says "presumably" since the June 2008 original North Korean declaration has yet to be publicly released.)