More than talk

NORTH KOREA’S RETURN to talks on its nuclear program after 15 months of silence is welcome. South Korea’s announcements of additional aid for Pyongyang may make the six-nation discussions later this month more than just stilted rhetoric and hot air, but unless both North Korea and the U.S. also bring specific proposals, the sessions are unlikely to be very productive.

China is Pyongyang’s main external source of energy and food, both of which it desperately needs; if Beijing had pushed Kim Jong Il’s regime harder, it probably would have returned to the talks sooner. Russia will be at the table too, but it provides far less to North Korea since the Soviet Union’s collapse. Japan is concerned about the nuclear program and also about North Korea’s admitted kidnapping of Japanese citizens in past decades. South Korea, like China, worries that a collapse of Kim’s government could send refugees swarming across its border.

All five nations look to the U.S. as the keystone for any agreement. That’s a common position for Washington in conflicts around the world, from the Israeli-Palestinian mess to tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

U.S. officials believe North Korea has at least two nuclear weapons and perhaps as many as eight, making the talks particularly vital. Getting Pyongyang to give up those weapons should be the objective of all nations; it must be required to verify disarmament as it receives food, economic aid and perhaps eventually a relaxation of U.S. trade sanctions.

North Korea said Monday it does not need nuclear weapons if Washington doesn’t threaten it. The U.S. has said it has no hostile intent against Pyongyang, so the formula for disarmament is clear. But North Korea has issued contradictory statements before, and there’s no guarantee it is willing to bargain seriously. If the secretive Stalinist nation is not willing to make concessions and negotiate with the U.S., the Bush administration will have a stronger case to urge nations to cooperate in isolating a dangerous regime.

Washington said last month that it would give North Korea more than 50,000 tons of food. Although the U.S. stressed that politics is separate from food aid, the humanitarian gesture may have helped bring Pyongyang back to negotiations. Kim should understand that there’s enough outside aid to avert another famine like the one in the 1990s, if he cooperates by giving up his nuclear weapons.