TEN months after North Korea precipitated a crisis in Northeast Asia by withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the United States has not yet succeeded in making the North Koreans change their mind, and once again accept their obligations under the treaty.
US spokesmen, notably Undersecretary of State for International Security Affairs Lynn Davis in a January 5 briefing in Washington, are trying hard to put the best gloss on protracted low-level negotiations with North Korea.
But it is clear that the North Koreans are still not yet back within the discipline imposed by the NNPT.
Under the NNPT, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is entitled to ensure that no non-nuclear state acquires nuclear weapons.
North Korea, which has merely talked vaguely about suspending its withdrawal from the NNPT, has not yet put itself back in the position of accepting IAEA directives.
First, North Korea hindered IAEA inspections from taking place in the way that the IAEA wanted when it agreed to admit IAEA inspectors last September.