Optimism is not a feeling that often overwhelms those dealing with North Korea. Yet this week America's secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, expressed a measured amount of it after the North had agreed to end a 13-month boycott and resume six-way talks on its nuclear programmes sometime in the week of July 25th in Beijing. After its chief negotiator met with his American counterpart last weekend, North Korea said it would "do its utmost", no doubt encouraged by a South Korean promise of 500,000 tonnes of food aid and future energy supplies, to make the talks succeed.
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