NORTH KOREA . . . SPARE US THE DETAILS

U.S. officials softened their ground rules for a nuclear settlement with North Korea when formal talks resume in Geneva two weeks from today. In Washington, chief U.S. negotiator Robert Gallucci dropped a demand that Pyongyang disclose every shred of information about its past nuclear activities so investigators could figure out whether it has stashed away a warhead, or a half-dozen of them. Instead, he said, the U.S. can attack that question after a basic agreement that would have North Korea drop its nuclear weapons program altogether, in exchange for a modern nuclear reactor and relations with the U.S. To get the diplomatic ball rolling, U.S. officials will meet with North Korean counterparts on their home turf tomorrow to discuss setting up liaison offices in each other's capitals.