Mike the Usurper wrote:

Hey Condi? What are you going to do when Pyongyang tells to to go screw? We don't have a military option, and we already don't trade with them. We can't get world opinion turned against them anymore than it already is, so what's the "or else?"

It is that stronger negotiating position of N. Korea that they are concerned about. N. Korea messed up, and right now are the most visibly vulnerable -- it is why they are back at the negotiations. The US has exhausted its options, but now we have world support (esp. because we don't have a military option). Concede to a concession like "legitimize our construction of additional facilities to make weaponizable nuclear materials, erm, power plants", and world opinion resets. A deal was made, and NK backed down, yay! When, two years from now, they stray back into questionable activity, it is again the US (with its cry wolf Iraq and decreased international support considering foreign policy) bullying NK and another extensive burden of evidence. I'm not saying Condi is right; but you just spelled out why letting North Korea dictate the terms of their own surrender is not a win.