North Korea, US agree on nuclear halt
S Korea: North Korea said Wednesday it would suspend its nuclear
weapons tests and allow the return of UN inspectors in a deal that
includes US food aid, marking a potential breakthrough after years of
tension.
In an agreement just two months after the death of longtime leader
Kim Jong-Il, North Korea and the United States announced that Pyongyang
would suspend its uranium enrichment programme and halt nuclear and
missile tests.
“Today's announcement represents a modest first step in the right
direction,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said as she testified
before a Senate committee in Washington. “We of course will be watching
closely and judging North Korea's new leaders by their actions,” she
said.
The deal followed talks in Beijing last week between the two sides,
the first dialogue since Kim's young and untested son Kim Jong-Un took
power. The United States said it would provide 240,000 tonnes of
“nutritional assistance” to North Korea.
A US official said that Washington rejected a request for rice and
grains and instead would provide vegetable oil, pulses and ready-to-eat
meals designed for young children and pregnant women. “These are people
whom the regime either cannot or has chosen not to feed,” the senior
official said in Washington on condition of anonymity.
The North said it would allow the UN nuclear watchdog, the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to monitor the moratorium on
uranium enrichment. The North -- which is suspected of supplying
equipment, materials and know-how to Syria and Libya -- kicked out
inspectors in 2009. In Vienna, IAEA chief Yukiya Amano welcomed the
announcement as “an important step forward” and said that the agency was
ready to return.
The deal was also welcomed by Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba in
Japan, one of six countries in talks on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons that
also include China, the two Koreas, Russia and the United States. AFP
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