North Korean Talks: The Consensus-Building Burden

Vice ministerial-level, six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear standoff tentatively are scheduled to begin Aug. 27, preceded by a flurry of diplomacy among the various countries involved. But with each country having a different view regarding what should be discussed, offered and accepted, anything more than a somewhat ambiguous and amorphous agreement on security and economics likely will have to take place in bilateral meetings on the sidelines or be left for future discussions.