No doubt President Barack Obama would like some sort of foreign policy win to boost his re-election campaign. His record on international affairs has not been full of successes.
But talks aimed at stopping North Korea's aggressiveness and its nuclear weapons program are too important to be used for political purposes.
U.S. and North Korean representatives met last week in Switzerland and agreed to full-scale talks on relations in the future. That occurred while the U.S. delegation was headed by Stephen Bosworth, who has been Obama's special representative to North Korea since February 2009.
In announcing plans for a new round of negotiations, however, the State Department said the U.S. delegation will be led by Glyn Davies, who has been our ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
There was no explanation for the sudden change. Some analysts said it appeared to reflect uncertainty over U.S. policy toward North Korea.
If so, the question of what type of shift is occurring arises. Is it a change aimed at procuring some sort of agreement - regardless of whether it is helpful in reining in North Korea? Is a public relations coup more important than a verifiable agreement that North Korea will abandon nuclear weapons?
Let's hope not. One more sham agreement with North Korea is not in Americans' best interests.
