The six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons held in Beijing late last month ended without agreement on ways of achieving the complete abandonment of Pyongyang's nuclear programs. Little progress was made toward resolving differences between the North on one side and Japan, the United States and South Korea on the other.
North Korea expressed readiness to abandon its nuclear-arms programs but vowed to continue its programs for peaceful uses of nuclear energy. After admitting earlier it was pursuing a program to make highly enriched uranium, it insisted that program did not exist.
Pyongyang's position clashed head-on with the Japan-U.S.-South Korean demand for the "complete, verifiable and irreversible" dismantlement of its nuclear programs. Difficulty is expected in further sessions. Diplomatically, however, the six-nation talks, following the previous session held last August, are receiving high praise for functioning as a new framework for regional security in Northeast Asia.