On 13 February, the Fifth Round of the Six-Party Talks ended with the adoption of an 'Action Plan' for the North Korean nuclear issue. The Action Plan represents the lowest common denominator for the parties involved. In agreeing to it, all parties made minimum necessary concessions and gained minimum satisfactory outcome.

Accordingly, the 13 February agreement was an important first step, but several widely different scenarios, from the comprehensive denuclearization of Korea to the complete breakdown of negotiations, remain possible in the future.