FOR the first time since hostilities have resumed on the Korean Peninsula, good sense has returned with South Korean President, Lee Myung-bak, purring his support behind resumptions of the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program that have been suspended since April in response to the launch of a North Korean satellite that was widely believed to have been a ballistic missile test. But in the eyes of the South Korean president, the six-party talks are not just about talk; their ultimate goal, he said, is the complete dismantling of North Korea's nuclear program next year – a worthy goal, the attainment of which would go far to dispel the current tension on the peninsula. South Korea has taken an uncharacteristically aggressive stance toward the North Koreans, a tact that is likely designed to be consumed by a South Korean public that had decried the South's lack of action in the face of both the naval attack and the more recent attack on the South Korean island than to instill fear in their northern counterparts. Nevertheless, the conduct of military exercises following the attack on the island that killed innocent civilians worked to give South Korea a stronger profile to the world, one through which the suggestion to resume the six-party talks can be cast as a sign of strength, not fear of its neighbor. The talks had offered North Korea incentives such as aid, security guarantees, progress toward normalization of relations with the United States and the lifting of sanctions in return for abandoning the nuclear program. Significantly, and as a sign of displeasure with its giant neighbor, China, South Korea rejected an early suggestion put forth by China that the talks be resumed following the North Korean attacks. The South's Lee was clearly criticizing China for what is considered that country's refusal to intervene in the actions of client state. Still, the six-party talks are likely the most productive approach to ending North Korea's nuclear program. No matter South Korea's justified mistrust of China, political realities demand that they now cooperate with China to negotiate an end to this threat to peace. __
