BRUSSELS -- In a vital move toward securing greater stability, North Korea announced last week it would return to the six-party talks in Beijing with the United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia to try to resolve the nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula. The breakdown in negotiations had been triggered most recently by U.S. claims that North Korea had a secret enriched-uranium program to produce nuclear weapons.
Who blinked? It is not entirely clear. While North Korea has been under enormous pressure from its neighbors to return to the talks, compounded by its own internal economic problems, Pyongyang's prime objective has been to get the U.S. to accept the idea of a changing regime rather than regime change.
Kim Gye Gwan, North Korea's chief negotiator at the talks, states that Christopher Hill, the State Department's new negotiator, has confirmed a shift in U.S. policy.