Even with modest expectations, the opening round of multilateral talks on North Korea's nuclear-weapons plans in Beijing last week was less than successful. Diplomats from the U.S., North Korea, China, Russia, South Korea and Japan left the six-sided bargaining table--custom-built for the talks--with no real progress.
On Friday, North Korea's official news agency dismissed the negotiations as "a stage show to force us to disarm." Worse still, the next day, contradicting an earlier statement by the Chinese, North Korea announced that it saw no point in returning to the table.
As always, it is unclear whether the North is bluffing. But...
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