The standoff over North Korea's nuclear-arms development is entering a new stage as officials of six nations -- the United States, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Russia and China -- prepare to meet soon in Beijing to discuss the threat. At Pyongyang's insistence, the U.S. will hold direct talks with North Korea on the side.
Japan's participation in the talks will mark the first time in the postwar period it has played a major international role in trying to establish a new order in Northeast Asia.
If denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula fails, other Asian nations' stands against acquiring or developing nuclear arms will likely fall like dominoes. Now is the time for Japan, as the only nuclear-bombed nation and one that has been in the vanguard of the global movement to control and eradicate nuclear arms, to show its diplomatic skills.