Please face it. We were esssentially and eventually blackmailed.
The fact is, Bush maintained the multilateral approach as you correctly point out, and refused, initially and to his credit quite stubbornly, to take the bait and to engage in direct US/DPRK talks and negotiations--as the Democrats insisted.
This was during his correct, purist earlier phase of foreign policy on this issue bypassing the State Department traditional approach of appeasement, detente, and "carrots over sticks".
As I said, the Libs and Clintonites urged him into one-on-one with DPRK as well. He resisted for as long as he could.
And this is where you and I start to part ways in our interpretation. For example, dont you recall anything of that most embarrassing situation of the US scrambling laughingstock-wise to get the DPRK's massive illegal drug/conterfeit based cash back to them from Banco del Asia, almost tripping over their shoelaces shamelessly, all along the length of Foggy Bottom?
At the end of last year, Mr. Bush's position weakened considerably by Democrat control of Congress and other global distractions (Iraq to name a few), he did in fact change his tact and in fact did enter bilateral one-on-one discussions with the DPRK. By this, they had achieved their biggest victory in Pyongyang. They even had a major national celebration over their success. Ask Chris Hill. He did the negotiating. This is a stubborn, immovable fact.
In my opinion, indeed this was the low-water mark and showed the departure of the Bush Administration from its earlier correct line of strength and pressure (including efforts to strangle the regime) to one of more conciliation and appeasement. Why do you think all of the world's major, mainline appeasement press, Time, Newsweek, Economist, NYTimes, WashPost, came out in editorals and writing and said essentially "FINALLY! He vanquished the neocons and has come around to our way of thinking on this regarding engagement of Pyongyang rather than isolation". When the world press went in favor of Bush's altered strategy, I dont know about you, but that told me a lot.
It is the fact of the matter. To insist otherwise, one must have been living on another planet for the last 12 months.
This is no victory. We should not trumpet it as one.