EDITORIAL
North Korea crisis: a small ray of hope

White House spinmeisters would have you believe that the Bush administration has won a major battle over the shape of the negotiating table across which the North Korean nuclear crisis could be resolved.

At first, the North Koreans had insisted on talking mano a mano with the Americans — a table with just two chairs. Washington demanded a pentagon-shaped table, with South Korea, Japan and China filling the other seats.

The announcement that North Korea now has agreed to multilateral talks (with a sixth seat added, for the Russians) is being treated like a victory, but it's a face-saving compromise. The bilateral U.S.-North Korean talks will take place within the context of the multilateral talks — two tables, in other words.

It's surely a good thing that talks can now proceed, thanks to the efforts of the Chinese.

But getting to talks is just a bare beginning. It's not clear what North Korea wants in exchange for standing down its nuclear weapons program. And it's quite clear that the Bush administration is divided over how much of a concession to make without appearing to pay blackmail.

Meanwhile, time is not on our side. With each day, North Korea is nearer to setting off a test explosion and declaring itself a nuclear power, and worse, a nuclear exporter.