Along with his vast library of Hollywood movies, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is said to enjoy watching CNN. But the news that Florida and Ohio had gone to President Bush probably put him in a pretty sour mood last week.

It has been evident for months that the North Koreans were hoping for a change in the White House. Since the last round of six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear program in June, they have stalled instead of agreeing to another meeting. Despite clear messages from the camp of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry and others that there was no point in waiting, the North Koreans believed they would get a better deal from Kerry.

Most observers believe the North Koreans will now return to the table, at least to test the post-election waters. But if these talks are going to make any real progress, two things need to happen.

First, and most important, Kim must make a strategic decision to roll back the nuclear program on the best terms he can get. Second, and just as crucial, President Bush must finally decide if he wants to negotiate a deal or to remove Kim from power. Until the president makes that clear, these talks have almost no chance of success.

In June, the United States, under pressure from China, Japan and South Korea, finally backed away from insisting it would never be “blackmailed” into offering concessions to Pyongyang. The State Department outlined a proposal for the phased dismantlement of North Korea’s nuclear program in exchange for a sequence of inducements, from oil shipments to security guarantees.

But that opening was never followed up. And the North Koreans were apparently unhinged again by harsh language used by Bush about Kim, read as an indication that the removal of the North Korean dictator remained the real agenda.

The North Koreans, who traditionally are highly cautious, opted to wait and see what happens in November. “They decided the State Department was not able to pull this wagon across the finish line,” says a veteran North Korea watcher in our intelligence community. Without a clear signal the president was committed to the negotiations, the North Koreans felt it wasn’t worth making further concessions, he says.

In any case, the North Koreans have been plugging away with their nuclear program and may feel little incentive to speed up these talks. They see the United States preoccupied with Iraq and now with Iran’s nuclear program.

“The North Koreans are fine with a Bush administration where they’re the fifth priority,” says the Asia Foundation’s Scott Snyder, a respected Korea expert. “As long as there is someone out there badder than him, Kim Jong Il has room to maneuver.”

The Bush administration is relying on pressure from China, a traditional ally of North Korea, and from South Korea, which has engaged the communist North economically to bolster reformist elements of the regime. Both countries retain key leverage over the North as suppliers of energy, food and other aid to its failed economy.

There have been tensions in the past between Washington, Seoul and Beijing over how to handle the talks. The two Asian countries have consistently urged a more flexible approach. But officials in all three capitals agree that cooperation is close these days. Seoul and Washington, in particular, are working together much better than in the past.

But some officials in the Bush administration admit privately that the idea of China bringing Pyongyang to heel has been oversold. “I don’t think their game has really changed,” a senior administration official says of the Chinese. “They want the burden on us to solve it.”

And for Beijing, stability and avoiding war on the Korean peninsula are the key, rather than stopping nuclear proliferation. If they have to swallow a nuclear North Korea to avoid war, they will do it.

In reality, the United States cannot really shift the burden. With the election passed, it is time for the president to make his move. The appointment of a presidential special envoy to direct the negotiations would be a start. A direct message to the devil himself, Kim Jong Il, would be even better.