Diplomacy buys time over N Korea

By Nick Childs
BBC News

US envoy Christopher Hill said six-party talks could resume soon

North Korea's decision to return to stalled six-party talks over its nuclear programme is a significant diplomatic development and may defuse the immediate sense of crisis over the country's nuclear ambitions.

The announcement came after the chief United States envoy to the talks, Christopher Hill, met North Korean officials in Beijing for their first discussions since the North's test of a nuclear weapon earlier this month.

President George W Bush has welcomed North Korea's decision and thanked China for its help.

On the face of it, the North Koreans appear to have made an important concession - no doubt the result of Chinese pressure.

But while Pyongyang may have blinked, it may have let everyone else off the diplomatic hook as well, at least for now.

Where this will lead in the longer term, though, is another matter.

Alarm bells

Previously, Pyongyang had said it would not return to the six-party talks until Washington lifted financial restrictions on it, the result of alleged illicit North Korean financial activities.

For their part, the Americans are saying only that they will look at the issue.

They are also insisting that wider UN sanctions stay in place for now.

N KOREA NUCLEAR PROGRAMME Believed to have 'handful' of nuclear weapons But not thought to have any small enough to put in a missile Could try dropping from plane, though world watching closely

Recent events have clearly concentrated diplomatic minds, underlining both the stakes involved in this stand-off, but also the complexities of how to deal with it.

Pyongyang's nuclear test certainly set off alarm bells.

It provoked international outrage, a new UN sanctions resolution, but also continuing arguments among the major powers over the best way forward.

This latest news is a diplomatic coup for China.

But all the main parties will be able to say that at least there is the prospect of renewed talks.

North Korea, though, has apparently given no specific undertaking not to carry out further tests.

And the basis of the talks will still be an outline agreement reached in September last year - a supposed breakthrough that was quickly undermined by differences over interpretation.

Whether the events of the last few weeks will produce any more flexibility when everyone actually gets round the negotiating table is not clear.