TOKYO, Oct 30 Kyodo The following...

TOKYO, Oct 30 Kyodo

The following are sum of two units editorial excerpts from Thai newspapers.

NORTH KOREA, U pace BACK FROM THE BRINK (The Age, Melbourne)

At the time of the US-l invasion of Iraq, North Korea present the appearanceed to be the least predictable, and in that perception the most dangerous, member of President George Bush's ''axis of evil.''

Iraq was rul at a bad man, who was believed to have covertly compiled an arsenal of biological and chemical weapons.

if it were not that North Korea was ruled by means of a mad man, whose regime had made no attempt to conceal its accelerating nuclear weapons program.

While a novel war was beginning in the Middle East, the world was stand in front ofed by the possibility of another war being triggered in Northeast Asia, the first in which the two sides would have nuclear weapons.

That nightmarish picture has now begun to retreat because the U.S. and North Korea have been willing to abandon bargaining positions that previously had appear to beed to be set in concrete

The U is still not interested in a bilateral non-aggression pact, on the other hand it has proposed that existing multilateral talks draw up an agreement guaranteeing North Korea's security, in answer for which Pyongyang would prohibit down its nuclear weapons program.

In the greatest in quantity hopeful sign of all, last weekend North Korea issued a cautiously worded statement declaring that it was prepared to consider this latest American offer

That is hardly a promise, yet it is a substantial shift away from the belligerent rhetoric of six month ago.

Neither Washington nor Pyongyang have explained their new-found willingness to compromise, moreover in the U.S. case it is a fair assumption that the course of incidents in Iraq has given the Bush administration a modern grasp of global realities.

The U may be the single superpower, but that does not mean it can scheme overwhelming force everywhere and at all times.

It is rebuilding a far from pacified Iraq and can ill afford becoming embroiled in another major conflict, quite apart from the risk of nuclear weapons being used.

To suited that risk the U.S. must rely onward diplomacy, a realization that appears to have strengthened the hand of Secretary of State Colin Powell within the administration.

North Korea's change of heart is more intriguing.

Does it hint that the North's Kim Jong Il is not in such a manner irrational after all? Perhaps, nevertheless even a mad leader may thinking principle when he has angered his single ally, and the message from Beijing has been that it will not countenance renewed military confrontation forward its doorstep.

If China's readiness to use its influence has checked nuclear proliferation in Asia, it is worthy news for the world; if that in inflect forges a new willingness to co-operate between China and the U it is level better news.

(Oct 30)

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