There may still be sniping from hard-liners such as John Bolton, former US ambassador to the United Nations, but the process of negotiating North Korea’s denuclearisation is gathering unmistakable momentum. It represents a welcome turnaround by President Bush and merits bipartisan support at home and cooperation from America’s allies in Asia.

Bilateral talks this past weekend in Geneva between Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the lead US negotiator, and his North Korean counterpart, Kim Kye Gwan, produced agreement on reciprocal steps to fulfil the terms of a breakthrough deal last February. The key trade-off requires that the North permit the disabling of its nuclear reactor at Yongbyon, its nuclear fuel fabrication facility, and its facility for reprocessing plutonium. In return, the US will remove North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. These efforts by the two negotiators to stress the other side’s concessions contributed to a false impression that Washington was taking North Korea off the list of state sponsors of terrorism immediately. Hill had to explain on Tuesday that “Getting off the list will depend on further denuclearisation.” It’s too bad that this combination of United States firmness and diplomatic finesse has not been applied to other security challenges. — The Boston Globe