A pragmatic, welcome move

Orlando Sentinel: President Bush may have broken a diplomatic logjam this month by offering North Korea a multilateral security agreement in return for dismantling its nuclear-weapons programs.
After initially responding with scorn and hostility, North Korea now says it is willing to consider the offer. That's a welcome development after a year of stalemate.
North Korea claims it has been moving full-speed ahead on its weapons programs in the meantime, and U.S. intelligence agencies say there is evidence to back those claims. In this showdown, time is not on America's side.
A nuclear North Korea poses a serious menace to its neighbors and might soon threaten the United States. North Korea's nuclear programs could be even more dangerous to the world if the regime offered bomb-ready material to the highest bidder, including other rogue regimes or terrorist groups.
Friendly neighbors
Opponents of any negotiations with North Korea, including some Bush administration officials, would prefer to demand the regime's disarmament under threat of an economic blockade or military force. But there's little chance at this point that a blockade would succeed because North Korea's neighbors -- even U.S. allies South Korea and Japan -- aren't ready to go along. And the North's arsenal and army could kill millions on the Korean peninsula in a war before succumbing to U.S.-led forces.
As unsavory as it might be to cut a deal with a dictator like North Korea's Kim Jong Il, diplomacy is still better than the alternatives.
Bush's proposal to include South Korea, China, Russia and Japan in an agreement to disarm North Korea is smart. That multilateral approach would increase the pressure on Kim to live up to his end of the bargain. If he reneged, he would be violating the trust of his closest allies.
But ultimately, diplomacy can be judged a success only if it leads to a deal calling for the permanent dismantling of North Korea's nuclear programs, with inspections to make the deal stick.