US DPRK talks end inconclusively

'Made some progress'...'opened a window of opportunity', says Glyn Davies, the US North Korea co ordinator. Diplomatic speak. Go back to mid Summer and mid October 2011, please: the language is more or less the same.

The best, GuamDiary, can say: the US is talking to North Korea.

If the Obama administration thought that it could make headway with Pyongyang because it has a young 'untested' leader Kim Jong eun, they thought wrong.

We wonder in what lofty stratosphere or bottomless pit float the US North Korea clerisy. The North Koreans have consistently formulated positions, but the jesuits in Washington, think tanks, and ivory university tours parse words for hidden meanings; they would challenge adepts of the Kabbala or the alchemists on Swift's floating island Laputa.

Talks will continue in months down the line, yet unless the US softens its tack, well...and in this presidential election year, nothing new will happen.

If Lee Myung bak GNP loses the Blue House in 2012, well, we can hope a 'thaw' in US DPRK relations might happen.