Talks with North Korea last week nearly had a disastrous end when the rogue nation stormed out and threatened it would conduct nuclear tests. China, one of the six nations to take part in the talks, went as far as to accuse Washington’s “negative policy” towards Pyongyang as the “main problem” preventing a peaceful resolution.

Fortunately, North Korea tentatively agreed to another round of talks in October. There is no reason to believe that an easy solution to North Korea’s nuclear ambitions will be reached, but the Bush administration’s willingness to talk is necessary even if war is inevitable.

Bush’s past refusals to negotiate with Kim Jong-il, the North Korean dictator, are respectable on a moral level. The condition of North Korea, in terms of suffering, poverty, and oppression, is far worse than what was in Iraq.

But the United States’ tough posturing has achieved nothing. In the year and a half since Bush named North Korea as part of the “axis of evil,” their oppressive regime has continued selling missiles on the black market and developing its nuclear program. Talk is cheap unless there is force to back it up, and with too many American dollars being spent in Iraq and Afghanistan, we no longer have the clout to unilaterally threaten a country as well-armed as North Korea.

This is why we need to avoid alienating Russia and our allies in the Pacific, who at this point still think concessions are the most sensible way to achieve a nuclear-free North Korea.

Whether justified or not, America already has a reputation of being too arrogant and uncompromising, and if tensions escalate into armed conflict, America could be left alone holding the tag to a $100 billion war with tens of thousands of military casualties, never mind the devastation that South Korea and Japan would surely suffer.

The best case scenario is that continued dialogue leads to North Korea peacefully dismantling its nuclear program. But given the nation’s past history of deception and belligerence, it is more likely that North Korea will continue thumbing its nose at the world. Armed conflict may be the only way to resolve the situation.

So what will be the point of trying to be open to North Korea if talks end up going nowhere? The difference will be that Washington can show the rest of the world that North Korea is uninterested in a peaceful solution, and if war is the answer, America will have the backing of the world. Most likely, though, North Korea will not go to war if its former allies Russia and China grow sick of its deception and side with America. And right now, a war with North Korea is what we can least afford.

Editorial Board:Nicole Paseka, Megan Hinds, Amy Schierbrock, Alicia Ebaugh