CHINA: As the dust settles on North Korea's nuclear tests and international sanctions on the strange communist enclave start to take effect, Pyongyang is getting ready for the next round of six-nation talks on the nuclear stand-off, which China wants to resume soon.
Aware that its diplomatic credentials have been tarnished by its handling of the North Korean nuclear issue, the United States is sending two of its top diplomats to Japan, China and South Korea next week to prepare for a new round of negotiations on ending the North's nuclear ambitions.
The six-party talks are a stultifying, tortuous process that would try the patience of even the most patient of bureaucrats.
But what makes the forthcoming round of talks more interesting still is the way that North Korea has managed to push its way back onto the world stage.
Even though President Bush insists Pyongyang's tests have done nothing to alter the balance of power on the Korean peninsula, the North Koreans will feel they hold a much better hand going into this next round of regional power poker.
The six-party talks involve the two Koreas, the US, Japan, China and Russia and were set up to resolve Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions. The last meeting was in November 2005. Since then, North Korea has tested a small nuclear weapon near the Chinese border, angering those in the region, such as China and Japan, who fear an escalation in tension in the area. The tests also earned the secretive Stalinist state a UN sanction under Resolution 1718.
Even its only ally, China, who had not been told of Pyongyang's plans and lost face regionally over the atomic test, was strident in its condemnation and, unusually, backed UN sanctions, which target trade with North Korea in large conventional weapons and luxury goods.
China is still hopeful of a peaceful resolution. Foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said: "If we're prepared and each side agrees, then the sooner the better."
No date has been set for the talks to resume, but the South Koreans are saying they could take place as early as next month, with informal meetings at the end of this month. Already potential sticking points are starting to emerge.
One thorny area has been a dispute over North Korea's finances abroad. A US probe into Pyongyang's overseas accounts has confirmed evidence of illicit activity by North Korea and the Macau bank it deals with.
Some analysts say the personal character of some of these investigations - checking out money believed to belong to Kim Jong-il himself - could anger the North Korean leader further.
North Korea agreed on Tuesday to resume the negotiations, which over a year ago seemed to result in an agreement that would see Pyongyang give up its nuclear weapons programmes in exchange for economic aid, improved diplomatic recognition and energy assistance. Within days of that agreement being reached, however, the North seemed to back away from it and blamed US financial sanctions for its refusal to attend the six-party talks again.
North Korea's deputy leader, Kim Young-nam, has insisted that the purpose of its acquisition of nuclear weapons is to defend its territorial independence.