Although the third round of the six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear crisis yielded little more than a commitment to meet again, for the first time, there are grounds for genuine optimism. The United States and North Korea finally appear to be discussing solutions in earnest. To help them along, Japan and South Korea must continue to consult closely with Washington to ensure that the three governments maintain a united front. At the same time, they must engage Pyongyang to make sure that it realizes the benefits to be gained from abandoning its nuclear-weapons aspirations. Ensuring that the two objectives do not conflict is the key task ahead.

The latest round -- which includes China, Japan, North Korea, Russia, South Korea and the U.S. -- ended with an agreement to meet again before October and a promise to take steps to resolve the crisis "as soon as possible." That sounds like the outcome of the two previous meetings, which were derided as "talks for talk's sake." There are suspicions that the discussions continue, not because progress has been made, but because no one wants to face the consequences of failure.

But this time things appear to be different. Although China's chief negotiator, Mr. Wang Yi, conceded that there continues to be a wide gap between the U.S. and North Korean positions, this round was the first one at which the two governments explained their positions in detail. Pyongyang gave specific information on reactors and other facilities used to produce plutonium. While still refusing to admit the existence of a uranium-enrichment program -- U.S. intelligence of which triggered this crisis -- North Korea said it was ready to freeze all its nuclear-weapons programs in exchange for energy, the lifting of U.S. economic sanctions and its removal from Washington's list of countries that sponsor terrorism. North Korean negotiators explained that a freeze would lead to the eventual dismantling of the country's nuclear program. In addition, Pyongyang promised not to make, transfer or test nuclear weapons.