It Makes a Difference to the Sheep

LET'S TALK: The DPRK has agreed to talks in Beijing between China, the U.S. and North Korea. Not quite the bilateral talks the DPRK has insisted on but not the full-scale multilateral ones Washington has been backing. A sign of hope? Progress? Part of the answer depends on whether and when the ROK and Japan are allowed to join in. South Korea has expressed a willingness to be absent from the first round of "talks about talks but I suspect that neither Seoul nor Tokyo wants to be on the outside looking in for long. The CW is that the dramatic U.S. victory in Iraq has frightened Kim Jong-il and company. This seems to make sense. The big question is whether P'yongyang is frightened enough to really offer concessions.