But there are, as yet, few concrete reasons to believe that negotiations will
be any different this time round, since North Korea has no obvious
motivation for giving up the nuclear weapon that represents its sole
bargaining chip in its negotiations with the US.
The danger is that when talks resume, Pyongyang negotiators will seek to
manipulate them into a creeping, de facto acceptance of North Korea as a
nuclear state, a position the US has promised to avoid.
In Beijing there are hopes that Kim Jong-un, the babyfaced son of Kim Jong-il
might yet embrace Chinese-style economic opening up and reforms, but in
Washington analysts saw yesterday’s announcement not as a departure from the
old leadership, but in continuity with it.
In essence, this is the same deal that was struck in Geneva in October last
year, but was stalled by the death of Kim Jong-il in December: the fact that
it has now happened suggests that the regime’s fundamental approach is
probably not much changed.
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