Meeting with a special envoy of Chinese President Hu Jintao in Pyongyang last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il expressed his willingness to resolve problems related to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula through bilateral and multilateral talks.

Mr. Kim reportedly told Mr. Hu's special envoy Dai Bingguo that North Korea will adhere to the goal of denuclearizing the peninsula and make efforts to maintain and promote peace and political stability in the region.

It is remarkable that Mr. Kim mentioned joining multilateral talks over the nuclear issue. But it is unclear whether he meant a return to the six-party talks chaired by China and joined by the United States, North and South Korea, Japan and Russia. North Korea withdrew from the talks in April after the U.N. Security Council censured it over its test of a long-range rocket earlier the same month. The North in May carried out its second nuclear explosion test, which caused the international community to slap it with sanctions.

The U.S. has made clear its willingness to accept North Korea's request for bilateral talks. But North Korea should not forget the U.S.'s basic stance that bilateral talks should be held within the framework of the six-party talks.

North Korea is pushing a dialogue offensive. It released two captured American journalists after Mr. Kim met with former U.S. President Bill Clinton in Pyongyang; a North Korean delegation at the funeral of former South Korean President Kim Dae Jung met with South Korean President Lee Myung Bak; and Pyongyang has resumed inter-Korea Red Cross talks. The North may be hoping that China will loosen its sanctions.

In early September, North Korea announced that it was in the final stage of uranium enrichment and that its plutonium was being turned into weapons-grade standard. The North should not be allowed to gain recognition as a nuclear weapons state, and thereby force future talks to be slanted toward negotiations for nuclear arms reduction rather than an end to its nuclear weapons programs.