The fourth round of six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear-arms programs opens Tuesday in Beijing. The question is whether the talks will succeed in convincing the North to halt its nuclear-arms development, which poses a serious security threat to Northeast Asia. For Japan, the United States, South Korea, China and Russia, the talks could be their final opportunity to remove the threat in the near future.
At the previous round of talks, held in June 2004, the U.S. made a comprehensive proposal for solving the issue. Now it is up to North Korea to come up with a specific response to the proposal.
Washington and Pyongyang differ sharply. Should the talks fail to produce an agreement, the issue is likely to be referred to the United Nations Security Council. In that case, North Korea most likely will continue its nuclear-arms development, increasing the security threat to other nations, which, in turn, may feel compelled to develop nuclear weapons.