Over, at Last

The BBC reported the inevitable conclusion on Saturday, Washington time:

Talks on North Korea’s nuclear plans are due to go into recess on Sunday for two weeks, China’s Xinhua news agency quotes a Russian official as saying.

Chief negotiator Alexander Alexeyev said the talks would break up after a plenary session on Sunday morning.

The North continues to deny US reports of a uranium-based capability.

Three previous rounds of talks have ended in failure, but this fourth round has gone on for a much longer time, in what analysts saw as a sign that all sides seemed determined to find a solution.

At this point, no diplomatic process save limitless concessions shows any promise. Multilateral talks have failed. Bilateral talks have failed. Years of generous South Korean offers and payments had produced no significant discernable change in the North Korean regime, despite the cost in taxpayer dollars, political scandals, lost North Korean lives, and frayed relations with the United States. Not even China, with its supposed power to coerce North Korea, had proven itself both willing and able to bring North Korea back to the talks. And although the parties but a brave face on the outcome by describing it as a “recess,” it is difficult to imagine what further talks could achieve without a dramatically changed North Korean attitude toward verifiably dismantling its nuclear programs.