President George W. Bush held out hope this week that the six-party talks could be revived. While flying from Iraq to Afghanistan, he told reporters: "A success of this administration is to put a framework in place that has China, the United States, and South Korea and Russia and Japan all at the table, all saying the same thing."

The president asserted that the process of the negotiations had been reversed.

"It used to be, we will give you what you ask for and hope that you respond," the president said. "Now it is, here's what you must do if you want our help."

He contended the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Il, "is trying to test the process."

The president acknowledged, however, that the six-party talks are over for his administration and would be passed to President-elect Obama.

"The key," the president said, "is to be firm and patient with a structure that will enable the next president or the next president after that to be able to solve the problem diplomatically."

Obama has been cagey about North Korea's nuclear weapons, perhaps to avoid responsibility before he moves into the White House.

He says on his Web site, www.change.gov, that "the gravest danger to the American people is the threat of a terrorist attack with a nuclear weapon and the spread of nuclear weapons to dangerous regimes."

Obama says his administration "will pursue tough, direct diplomacy without preconditions with all nations, friend and foe."

He pledges he "will forge a more effective framework in Asia that goes beyond bilateral agreements, occasional summits, and ad hoc arrangements, such as the six-party talks on North Korea." No direct mention of resuming the talks.

Considering everything with which the new president must cope, such as the economy, energy, immigration, the environment, Iraq, Afghanistan, India and Pakistan, Russia, relations with the European Community and NATO, Israel and the Middle East, Canada and Mexico — and finding a new dog for his daughters — setting aside the North Korean issue might be tempting.

He could tell the North Koreans quietly that they appear not to be interested in negotiating in good faith. If they change their minds, let him know. Meantime, a threat to U.S. forces, allies and friends would be met with a forceful response in time, place and method of American choosing.

Richard Halloran is a Honolulu-based journalist and former New York Times correspondent in Asia. His column appears weekly in Sunday's Focus section.