Posted on: Saturday, June 18, 2005

EDITORIAL
U.S. should encourage N. Korea's openness

Perhaps the only certainty about North Korea and its enigmatic leader, Kim Jong Il, is that there is no certainty.

So, the latest news out of North Korea, while positive on the surface, must be treated cautiously. It could, and should, mean a change in the tension level on the Korean peninsula. But there are no guarantees.

News reports out of Seoul say Kim has agreed to restarting the U.S.-favored six-party talks on issues of nuclear and reunification issues.

That's a positive step, if it takes place. North Korea has been pressing for one-on-one talks with the United States, apparently as a matter of national pride.

That desire remains. Kim reportedly said he will go into the talks "if it is certain that the United States is respecting the North as a partner."

On a personal level, Kim cannot have missed Bush's new habit of referring to the North Korean leader as "Mr. Kim" rather than the dismissive and even derisive terms he has used in the past.

Accepting that these small signs of a thaw could disappear in an instant, it is imperative that the United States respond in kind with strong assurances of no hostile intent and a commitment for talks that will lead to lifting the nuclear threat in this volatile part of the world.