to verification and there is agreement within the parties on a set of principles to guide the establishment of a verification regime." Suspicions over North Korea and the six-party talks are detrimental to the establishment of political mutual trust between the United States and North Korea and a fair judgment of the latter's denuclearization process.

Conflicting partisan interests in the United States may also hold back the process. Many analysts believe that the Bush administration compromised with North Korea to gain political mileage at the end of its term. At a time when the U.S. presidential election is entering its final stage and Congress is under the control of the opposition, U.S. policies face many uncertainties, which may exert a major influence over the future denuclearization of North Korea.

Another potential obstacle lies in the varied interests of the United States and its allies. While the United States mainly aims to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue, Japan and South Korea have their respective agendas. Japan, which seeks to address North Korea's abductions of Japanese citizens side by side with its nuclear issue, stands against the U.S. decision to befriend North Korea. While Japan's attitude is attributed to its domestic party politics, South Korea's harsh stance is perplexing.

Because bilateral contacts between the United States and North Korea have played an important role in bringing about the recent breakthrough, some analysts point out that the six-party talks are becoming less important than before.

History has amply shown that given their big gap in power, it is impossible for the United States and North Korea to reach a reliable, workable agreement. That's exactly why the six-party talks were initiated. Instead of a simple platform for communication, the talks are designed to be an essential multilateral mechanism that ensures the agreements between the United States and North Korea are fair and workable. Without this mechanism, the two countries will be unable to come up with effective compromises.