The good news about North Korea is that it is ready to resume diplomatic contacts with Japan and the United States. At the ASEAN Regional Forum in Brunei this week, Pyongyang's foreign minister, Mr. Paek Nam Sun, expressed a willingness to mend fences with Tokyo and Washington in talks with Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi and Secretary of State Colin Powell.

The first sign of a thaw had emerged in late July when North Korea expressed regret over the June 29 North-South naval battle in the Yellow Sea that killed five South Koreans. In hindsight, that gesture of reconciliation set the stage for a series of North Korean offers to reopen dialogue with South Korea as well as Japan and the U.S.

On Friday, the two Koreas began three days of working-level talks at the Mount Kumgang scenic spot to pave the way for a ministerial meeting. Meanwhile, Japanese and North Korean diplomats are expected to meet in Pyongyang later this month to restart normalization talks. Also in the works, again in the North Korean capital, is a bilateral meeting of Red Cross officials. And, next Wednesday, the nuclear plant project in North Korea -- a three-way deal involving the U.S., South Korea and Japan -- will take a step forward when concrete-laying begins.