THE NERVE OF THESE PEOPLE - AT 7:19 A.M. ET:  The North Koreans have come to America to pick up their goody bags:

SANTA FE, New Mexico (CNN) -- North Korea believes it's owed bilateral talks with the United States after the communist government released two detained American journalists this month -- a notion that senior Obama administration officials quickly rejected on Wednesday.

"They feel, the North Koreans, that by giving us the two American journalists, that they've made an important gesture," New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson told CNN Wednesday after meeting with two North Korean diplomats. "And now they're saying the ball's in our court."

Very much out of the North Korean playbook.  They do something very bad, correct it, then expect to be rewarded for correcting something they shouldn't have done in the first place.

But senior Obama administration officials said six-party talks are still the proper venue for such a dialogue, and stressed that Richardson was not negotiating on the president's behalf. Richardson himself said he would only relay the information to the White House.

"Our policy toward North Korea remains today as it has been -- calling for the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," one of the administration officials said Wednesday. "We believe the six-party talks are the best forum for that. The bottom line is, the ball is in North Korea's court."

COMMENT:  We'll tentatively side with the administration on this, but we note that its tough words have never been followed by anything much.  Unless North Korea understands that it will be punished for its nuclear and missile tests, and its proliferation, none of our statements will ultimately have much effect.  And that, sadly, seems to be the story of the Obama foreign policy.

August 20, 2009