Multilateral efforts to stop North Korea's nuclear-weapons program are gaining momentum. Leaders of the United States, China, Japan, South Korea and Russia, meeting bilaterally on the sidelines of the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Santiago, Chile, agreed that six-nation talks should be resumed at an early date to discuss a peaceful solution.
U.S. President George W. Bush, at a press conference following his meeting with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, said, "The leader of North Korea (Kim Jong Il) will hear a common voice" from the leaders of the five nations at the next round of six-party talks.
The on-and-off talks entered a more practical phase at the last (third) round held in June, when the U.S. for the first time offered "carrots" (energy supplies) in exchange for a North Korean nuclear freeze. A fourth round was delayed as Pyongyang waited to see the outcome of the U.S. presidential election. All the while, though, its nuclear drive has continued, ratcheting up tensions on the Korean Peninsula.