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North Korea has rescinded its 1953 cease-fire negotiated with South Korea and the U.S. at the end of the Korean War. This decision is tantamount to a renewal of that War. However, the prospects for such a War today are much more dire than in the early 1950s. This time the North has nukes.

BEIJING - North Korea is ready to discuss the initial steps of its nuclear disarmament, the country's main envoy said Thursday as he arrived for international talks on the communist nation's atomic weapons program. "We are prepared to discuss first-stage measures," Kim Kye Gwan said after arriving in Beijing for the six-nation negotiations set to start later Thursday. However, Kim said any moves by North Korea would be determined by the United States' attitude. "We are going to make a judgment based on whether the United States will give up its hostile policy and come out toward peaceful coexistence," he...

After North Korea's nuclear bomb test, the People's Republic of China insists that "punishment should not be the purpose" of any response. Maybe the problem isn't North Korea, but China. There's another, more ominous reason for China's reluctance to help: The country is responsible for much of the proliferation of nuclear technology to terrorist states in recent years. That includes its main client, North Korea. As the State Department noted in a 2003 report, "Chinese state-owned corporations have engaged in transfer activities with Pakistan, Iran, North Korea and Libya that are clearly contrary to China's commitments to the U.S." China...

Appeasement: Democrats have been quick to blame President Bush for North Korea's nuclear test. The real culprits are Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and their diplomacy of wishful thinking. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., on Monday reacted to communist dictator Kim Jong Il's atomic muscle-flexing by predictably blaming the failed policies of the Bush administration, saying, "I regret deeply their failure to deal with the threat." Another probable 2008 presidential candidate, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said, "The truth is the Clinton administration knew full well they didn't have a perfect agreement (in 1994). But at least they were talking." That gets to...

CNBC Asia, South Korea Wire Services Reporting

North Korea ratcheted up the tension several notches last week by announcing its intention to conduct a nuclear test. It appears the North Korea-Iran tag team is giving fits to the United States and adding to the worry that the two nations are coordinating strategies to keep us off balance. Shortly after North Korea launched its missiles last July, intelligence appeared alleging that Iranians observed the launches as guests. Israeli intelligence sources believe that North Korea sold Iran 18 intermediate-range missiles. Countries opposing the U.S. routinely embrace each other as a matter of necessity. Two years ago, the International Atomic...