Nobody disputes that dialogue is the only way to resolve the crisis between North Korea and the United States. Even Washington, after months of refusing talks until Pyongyang scraps its nuclear programmes, has reached that conclusion.
The problem is that neither side is capable of sitting at a negotiating table and rationally reaching an agreement. Both lack experience, maturity and most of all, understanding.
This was revealed in October when US Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly visited Pyongyang. At that meeting, North Korea admitted it had been secretly trying to enrich uranium. Armed with this knowledge, Mr Kelly sparked the present row on his return to Washington by letting the world know.
Since then, the situation has escalated to dangerous levels. North Korea has withdrawn from four agreements pertaining to its nuclear programme and threatened to overturn its own freeze on testing missiles.
US President George W. Bush has not helped. His decision when he took office two years ago to rescind the negotiating position of his predecessor Bill Clinton towards the North made a dispute inevitable. His naming of Pyongyang as part of an 'axis of evil' in his State of the Union address a year ago spawned the present crisis.
More than half a century of near diplomatic isolation has not assisted North Korea. Its negotiating team has shown a lack of tact and inability to compromise. Its statements are still mired in the same, tired Cold War rhetoric.
