EDITORIAL
North Korea talks give reason to worry

For those who still think Iraq constituted the greater threat to American security, a North Korean delegate yesterday told a six-nation conference in Beijing that it has nuclear weapons and will soon test one and declare itself a nuclear power.

This is not the first time Pyongyang has made this claim. You can even find a bit of good news here if you look hard enough:

• American intelligence doesn't know whether it's true. The CIA knows Pyongyang has enough reprocessed plutonium to make one or two nuclear weapons, but has no idea if it has done so, where they might be if it has, and whether they might have been miniaturized to make them conveniently deliverable.

• China's representative to the talks was nearly apoplectic over the North Korean claim. China is about the closest thing to an ally the North Koreans still have, but China's patience is wearing thin. China's announced goal in bringing North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Russia and the United States to this conference in Beijing was to ensure a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.

• The parties apparently agreed to return to a new round of talks in October. That's hardly a breakthrough, but it's well ahead of failure.

The bad news is that Pyong-yang and Washington seem unbending in their opposing positions. Pyongyang says it must develop a nuclear deterrent as long as Washington appears hostile. Washington insists that Pyongyang abandon its one and only bargaining chip before it will discuss what happens next.

Neither position hints at the possibility of progress.