When North Korean and American diplomats emerged after an hour of secret negotiations in a basement room at U.N. headquarters last week, Pyongyang's ambassador Ho Jong stopped to talk briefly with reporters. North Korea, he declared with satisfaction, had made some unspecified proposals aimed at resolving the dispute over his country's nuclear program.
The next day, a Foreign Ministry official in Pyongyang announced that the meeting at the U.N. had "removed a series of stumbling blocks" and produced a "breakthrough." Officials in Washington said that more details would have to be worked out before they could speak of a breakthrough but...