THE US AND NORTH KOREA LOCK IN FOR TALKS

Yes, face-to-face, for the first time since Kim Jong-Il's move to restart his nuke programs and withdraw from relevant treaties. But the talks are taking place in China, which also promises to fully engage in the sessions. So Kim Jong-Il isn't getting the one-on-one talks with the US that he has demanded for months.

It's another win for Bush, and another loss for his critics, who remain strangely silent.

While the Japanese, South Koreans and Russians won't be in on the talks, China's presence is crucial. China holds Kim's leash, in the form of energy and other assistance; China can yank that leash. China's hosting of the talks and its presence at them signals at least a willingness to do so.

Further, the US has reserved the right to bring the South Koreans and Japanese into the talks if it becomes desirable or necessary. That's another layer of loss for Kim (and Bush's critics).

Interestingly, the format and location for the talks solidified before the war in Iraq began. The Bush administration made this happen by one very simple tactic: truth combined with principle:

As described by officials from the United States, Japan and South Korea today, the outlines of the agreement for next week's talks were struck before the war in Iraq started. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell traveled on Feb. 24 to Beijing, where the Chinese tried to persuade him to engage in one-on-one talks with North Korea. At a second meeting at the United Nations, on March 7, "we persuaded the Chinese" that Mr. Bush would never agree to those conditions, the American official said.

The next day, a very senior Chinese official — it is unclear who — told North Korea's leaders that they had no choice but to accede to Mr. Bush's demands, several officials said.

In other words, it pays to have a president who's a straight shooter.

We're not out of the woods yet on North Korea. Kim Jong-Il is still very much one of the maddest rulers on the planet, and could still decide that war is in his interests. The Bush team could still screw it up. But thus far, the Bush team has handled him brilliantly, and with no help from the so-called loyal opposition here at home. No help at all.

In fact, the North Korean situation makes me wonder just how stupid the Democrats can be. Throughout the past two years, they have repeatedly set themselves up so that they must hope for American disaster to lift their own political fortunes. When the economy tanked in 2000, they blamed President Bush (though he had yet to take office when the downward trend started), thereby setting themselves up to have to root for continued economic misery to help them gain political traction. When the diplomacy leading up to the Iraq war got derailed by the duplicitous French, Germans and Russians, the Democrats sided with those states against Bush, again setting themselves up against American policy. Many Dems opposed the war and predicted disaster in Iraq, and questioned the war strategy a scant 10 days into the war, and once it was won shifted immediately to decrying the looting and other relatively minor after effects of the otherwise amazing and overwhelming victory. And throughout the North Korea crisis, the Democrats have advocated caving in to Kim's demands for bilateral talks, and basically doing whatever he wants us to do. In doing so, they have for all intents and purposes sided with Kim Jong-Il and against George W. Bush. This is not a strategy for winning the hearts and minds of American voters, nor of securing our nation against rogue states. It's a craven strategy of naked oppositionism without principle. And it's just plain stupid to pin your hopes on a nut like Kim.