Published: Wed, 1 Nov 2006 05:34:51 +0900

North Korea continues to be full of surprises as the six party talks are back on:

The U.S. and Chinese governments announced Tuesday that North Korea agreed to rejoin six-nation nuclear disarmament talks, a surprise diplomatic breakthrough that comes only three weeks after the communist regime conducted its first known atomic test.

The agreement was struck in a day of unpublicized discussions between the senior envoys from the United States, China and North Korea at a government guesthouse in Beijing. The U.S. negotiator, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, said the six-nation negotiations could resume as early as November or December.

"We took a step today toward getting this process back on track. This process has suffered a lot in recent weeks by the actions the DPRK has made," Hill told reporters afterward. DPRK stands for Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.

The agreement is one of the first signs of easing tensions since North Korea conducted the underground detonation on Oct. 9, defying warnings from both the United States and Japan and its staunchest ally, China.

 With the six party talks back on, North Korea now has less cards to play as they have already conducted missile and nuclear tests.  They are playing with a much weaker hand but I don't think they really have any intention of cutting a deal.  This seems more like a face saving measure for China.  

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