North Korea nuclear talks: Your reaction

Six-nation talks in Beijing aimed at resolving North Korea's nuclear crisis have ended without a major breakthrough.

The United States said the negotiations had been "very successful" but China said serious differences remained between the sides.

One of the main stumbling blocks has been America's insistence that North Korea scrap an alleged uranium-enrichment programme to build nuclear weapons.

The parties have agreed to hold more talks before the middle of the year and will set up working parties to examine issues.

Did the talks in Beijing achieve anything? How should the world react?

---

This debate is now closed. Read your comments below.

The following comments reflect the balance of opinion we have received so far:

The US has spent too much time trying to satisfy all parties involved Kim, Saratoga, CA

Time is running out. The US has spent too much time trying to satisfy all parties involved, and should instead focus on the prime issue of disarming Pyongyang by any means. If we wait too long, North Korea may well have a valid nuclear arsenal, and the world's options are suddenly so much worse.
Kim, Saratoga, CA

Firstly, is there a problem with North Korea having nuclear weapons??, could it be they need them for protection against the only country that has ever used nuclear weapons, not once, but twice!
Bobby, New Zealand

There can be absolutely no expectation whatsoever that North Korea's offer is genuine because China, the only party to the negotiations that has any real sway over N. Korea, has been unwilling to take the simple steps needed to make N. Korea end its programme. Make no mistake about it, this is NOT a dispute between N. Korea and the USA; it is a dispute between N. Korea and the entire civilised world. And China holds the best cards here.
Jim S, Columbus, Ohio, USA

Step-by-step and diplomatic approaches are the best ones, although they need much time and patience. War in the Korean Peninsula means deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent South Koreans who are living in a democratic country.
Joo Joo, Edinburgh, UK

Quite frankly, the world should just give North Korea an ultimatum Stephen Green, North Saanich

North Korea is simply applying the fine art of blackmail in order to get the rest of the world to bolster its economy. Quite frankly, the world should just give North Korea an ultimatum: two weeks to dismantle their nuclear program or missiles shall be launched.
Stephen Green, North Saanich, BC, Canada

I don't believe that North Korea will talk about their nuclear program.
Renso Vedder, Azusa, USA

Well as usual it will end no where. As the talks failed last time, the talks will fail this time too. North Korea will never give up their nukes, and the Americans will not bow down to the North Koreans. The current stand off will perpetuate.
Tae, Cambridge, UK (Korean)

I think they will only be flexible enough to promise to talk again Shinya, Tokyo, Japan

Nothing specific will be achieved. As always North Korea will try to make it as gradual as possible whilst they will also try to pull out as much money as possible. Without their nuclear threat there would hardly be any strong political card left for them. I think they will only be flexible enough to promise to talk again.
Shinya, Tokyo, Japan

There are two uses for a nuclear programme that I am aware of: power and arms. Because of N. Korea's nature it's reasonable to say that they are going to want both. The recent events in Iraq may have left countries such as N. Korea feeling threatened by US influence. If this is the case, then these talks should continue. Only democracies should hold the right to develop nuclear research programmes.
Philip, VA, USA

How about the US withdraw from these blackmail talks, withdraw all the troops from South Korea, and let the South deal with the North on their own? They're 10 times richer than the North and shouldn't need the US to protect them anymore. The US still being involved in the Korean peninsula is ridiculous considering South Koreans are burning US flags in the streets on a daily basis.
Tom, Chicago, USA

North Korea continues to put the endurance of a paranoid, ruthless and dysfunctional regime over the well being and mere survival of the people of the people of the DPRK. It is a shameful display of a rogue power trip at the expense of innocent people. North Korea has been a bastion of instability and aggression in Asia for the last six decades. This is another chapter in a shameful history of the government of North Korea.
John C, Boston, USA

The hypocrisy of the international community which allows certain nations to attain and even expand their nuclear arsenal yet cries foul when another nation attempts to join the same club is amazing. A true leader leads by example. If we want to make the world a safer place for future generations, we should insist all nations, including the United States, begin dismantling their WMD programmes instead of developing a new generation of weapons.
J. Carroll, New York, USA

Doesn't NK, as a nation have the right to develop any weapon to protect its people? Mike, Vancouver, Canada

Why is it that important for NK not to have nuclear weapons if they are developing them for their own protection? The US, UK, France, Russia, India, Pakistan, Israel and maybe some more have it, but you don't hear any complaints at all. Doesn't NK, as a nation have the right to develop any weapon to protect its people? What a double standard.
Mike, Vancouver, Canada

Bottom line, North Korea has proven they cannot be trusted to uphold their part of the bargain. Give them $100bn today they'll ask for more tomorrow. Russia and China need to assume their responsibility for creating and supporting the North Korean regime. The US has taken responsibility and done our best to remedy many of our cold war mistakes. It's time for China and Russia to do the same.
Dan, Newburyport, USA

If you think North Korea deserve nukes you should talk to the 37,000 US soldiers who rotate in and out of South Korea every year. That's truth not tales or idealism with tea. You tend to find truth fast when your job is to die for someone and somewhere else.
Steven, Alexandria, VA, USA

North Korea is far more dangerous in this situation than most other "rogue" states. It has managed to keep its citizens more ignorant of the outside world, they seem to be very scared of Americans/Westerners (from the reports of people who have been on the official government sightseeing tours there), and would likely fight more fiercely than citizens in Iraq for example, causing large casualties on both sides. As it has also been mentioned, an attack on S. Korea would be catastrophic. While it is frustrating for there to be little progress it is probably preferable to a war on the peninsula.
Nick Collins, Oxford, UK

The idea that we must bribe North Korea with free aid to avoid a nuclear conflict is ludicrous Jake, Fairbanks, Alaska

Offering a non-aggression pact to North Korea is reasonable and would probably draw public support in the U.S. However, the idea that we must bribe North Korea with free aid to avoid a nuclear conflict is ludicrous. I, for one, refuse to stoop to the level of paying barbarians not to lay waste.
Jake, Fairbanks, Alaska

Nothing will be achieved with these talks if they start from the assumption that there are first and second class nations. Korea has every right to have its own deterrent force, just like the U.S. has it, especially considering that the latter is threatening the former with a military attack as we speak. Whatever agreement is reached under the threat of force will be, sooner or later, regarded as illegitimate by the party that was forced into it (in this case Korea).
Gonzalo Vásquez Villanueva, Santiago, Chile

If North Korea does not come clean on the entire nuclear weapons programmes it is running then the talks are pointless. The United States and its allies will have to make some very difficult policy choices.
John Johnson, Toronto, Canada

As long as a unjust Socialist system of government is in place in N. Korea, an unwavering determination will exist to build and maintain a WMD programme which could threaten the region and the world as a whole.
Neil Fisk, Crawley, UK

The United States was duped once into an agreement with North Korea to provide oil and other assistance to that country in exchange for a North Korean frees on nuclear arms development. By their own admission, the North Koreans were cheating before the ink on the documents was dry. Multilateral negotiations are well and good, and buy the region time. But Japan, the United States, South Korea, China and Russia all have a stake in preventing a regional nuclear war. All must act in concert to restrain Kim Jong Il. If not, with the country racing towards total economic collapse, the danger is that he will launch a war to plunder South Korea.
Brian, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA

We need to start sanctions against any nations that have any dealings with North Korea Graeme Phillips, Berlin, Germany

We need to start sanctions against any nations that have any dealings with North Korea. If we isolate the country as much as possible, there might be enough dissatisfaction for a regime change.
Graeme Phillips, Berlin, Germany (normally UK)

Nothing will happen this year. Life will go on as usual.
Sam Rupani, Houston, USA

Whenever I see foreigner's opinions on North Korea I'm always surprised at your ignorance's. Maybe you have just simple information about North Korea, maybe you are getting used to distorted news by the most powerful media in the world. But it's often wrong. Please learn more facts about what the country is all about!
Lee Jong Kuk, Goon Po City , Republic of Korea

North Korea has no intention of ever giving up its nuclear weapons programs. Their intent is to eventually take South Korea by force, using the nuclear blackmail card against Japan, and against US sites within reach of their missiles. No amount of "diplomacy" will ever disarm North Korea. Only force will accomplish that.
Tony Picking, Durham, NC USA

I think most people don't realize what actually DOES prevent the US from attacking North Korea - the results would be devastating for South Korea. North Korea has enough artillery in place right now to level Seoul in a matter of hours. Any attempt to force "regime change" in North Korea would likely cost South Korea hundreds of thousands of civilian lives.
Brian, Houston, Texas, USA

Bush is not going to give in to the North Korean extortion attempts Jim , NJ, USA

Without Chinese support, the North Korean regime would fall apart in a matter of months. So any encouraging statement from China is reason for optimism. However, Bush is not going to give in to the North Korean extortion attempts - one of his only sensible policies. Given that China will not leave Kim Jong Il in a position to lose face completely, I don't see these talks going anywhere.
Jim , NJ, USA

North Korea cannot be trusted. Their offers continue to change to suit the circumstances. The US will not negotiate with a dictator as cruel as Kim Jong-il. If his regime does not meet the US terms, war will be unavoidable. The world must encourage China and Russia to take a hardline stance alongside the United States.
Joe Cowan, Belfast, Northern Ireland

The talks should lead nowhere. Why? Because North Korea is trying to blackmail the rest of the world to help pay for their failed political system. If they succeed who will be next to try the same, Iran? Any non democratic country or country ruled by a single religion should be sanctioned by the rest of us until they change their ways.
I Hill, Bolivia

The United States should show some backbone and prove to the world that they mean to rid the world of the threats posed by Rogue States in the possession of weapons of mass destruction. The US should issue North Korea with a simple choice. If they don't dismantle their nuclear weapons programmes, the US and its allies will declare war.
Craig Linden, Watford

Nuclear weapons are the only way that North Korea can deter military aggression from the USA Paul Lockwood, Cambridge, UK

I think it would be unwise for North Korea to scrap its nuclear weapons program. After seeing the aggression unleashed against Serbia, Afghanistan and Iraq, I think that nuclear weapons are the only way that North Korea can deter military aggression from the USA.
Paul Lockwood, Cambridge, UK

All that North Korea wants is a handout. They are willing to use nuclear blackmail in order to get what they want. Their people are starving, they are very undeveloped, and their industry falls far behind South Korea's. North Korea needs food and dollars from the U.S. or there is a good chance of an uprising in the country. We must not give in to this kind of blackmail!
Adam Castings, Athens, Georgia U.S.A.

I think that North Korea is now willing and offer is genuine. It's better to talk with North Korea for peace. The world does not want to see any nuclear disaster like Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The world also should give better choices to North Korea - such as trade. There should be no sanctions on them.
Khurram Siraj, Linz, Austria

I think that North Korea is making an attempt to remedy the situation but the US won't be flexible enough to negotiate. I feel that the North Koreans have the right to want security assurances from the US since during the Korean War the US bombed every city and town to the ground and even attacked dams. I am not coming out in favour of the North Koreans but just making the point that if the US really wants these talks to work out that it has to make some concessions and make a balanced agreement so that peace will be achieved, not a one sided arrangement that will only cause more problems in the future.
Sean, Victoria, BC, Canada

They'll never give up their nuclear programme Ted, Texas, USA

They'll never give up their nuclear programme. I believe they'd be willing to let every one of their citizens starve to death rather than give up their deterrence capability. Still I think the best option is to empower Japan to handle the situation. WWII was a long time ago, and I think it's time they assumed a leadership role in that region. So long as we can keep them contained, there's no reason to fall for their blackmail.
Ted, Texas, USA

Clearly North Korea can't be trusted to keep to any treaty and the Americans seem to be quite mindful of this fact. Perhaps the US is looking to exploit the North's desperate need to foreign currency and aid in the hope of seeing an eventual collapse. Thus have embarked on a policy of dangling the financial carrot consistently out of reach and limiting the damage done by the North's arms supply industry.
Sean, UK

The North Korean dictatorship is Stalinesque and its words are only a tool with which to manipulate and are only coincidentally related to truth. Talks with them are not entirely meaningless but neither can they definitively resolve the problems. Under no circumstances should talks be held that give consideration to blackmail and extortion.
Kurt, USA

I think it is absolutely imperative for both sides to abandon their respective hard-line positions, and adopt a more conciliatory approach. Otherwise, I don't see how war can be averted.
Peter Bolton, US

It has become very difficult for many countries to trust what North Korea promises in talks. Their representatives are talking about freezing their programme but their scientists and engineers are continuing their programmes. There simply is too much bluff and counter-bluff going on. I for one don't know who is telling the truth and who is keeping their side of the bargain.
Cesar Fabunan, Quezon City, Philippines

Talk is just that.... "talk". There have to be some pretty strong bargaining powers at work or it will lead to nothing.
Margaret, USA