North Korea agrees to nuclear moratorium

• TA wrote on 2012-03-01 03:10

  29 February 2012 Last updated at 15:03 ET
  
  North Korea has agreed to suspend uranium enrichment, as well as nuclear and long-range missile tests, following talks with the US.
  
  The US State Department said Pyongyang had also agreed to allow UN inspectors to monitor its reactor in Yongbyon to verify compliance with the measures.
  
  In return, the US is finalising 240,000 tonnes of food aid for the North.
  
  

  [Image: http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/57641000/jpg/_57641384_013606526-1.jpg]

  
  The move comes two months after Kim Jong-un came to power following the death of his father, Kim Jong-il.
  
  Correspondents say the move could pave the way for the resumption of six-party disarmament negotiations with Pyongyang, which last broke down in 2009.
  'First step'
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  “Start Quote
  
  Both the DPRK [North Korea] and the US affirmed that it is in mutual interest to... push ahead with the denuclearisation through dialogue and negotiations”
  
  Statement North Korean Foreign Ministry
  
  The denuclearisation dance resumes
  
  US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the US still had "profound concerns" over North Korea, but welcomed the move as a "first step".
  
  "On the occasion of Kim Jong-il's death, I said that it is our hope that the new leadership will choose to guide their nation onto the path of peace by living up to its obligations.
  
  "Today's announcement represents a modest first step in the right direction."
  
  North Korea confirmed the move in a foreign ministry statement released in Pyongyang.
  
  The statement, carried by the KCNA news agency, said the measures were "aimed at building confidence for the improvement of relations" between the two countries, and said talks would continue.
  
  "Both the DPRK [North Korea] and the US affirmed that it is in mutual interest to ensure peace and stability on the Korean peninsula, improve the relations between the DPRK and the US, and push ahead with the denuclearisation through dialogue and negotiations," it said.
  Continue reading the main story
  Analysis
  image of Lucy Williamson Lucy Williamson BBC News, Seoul
  
  This deal is the first major international act of the new North Korean leader. But how much the agreement bears his personal stamp is unclear.
  
  The air in Seoul was thick with rumours at the end of last year, about a deal which offered concessions on North Korea's nuclear programme in return for American food aid.
  
  That was just before the former leader, Kim Jong-il, died - and contacts were disrupted.
  
  But whether this deal is his doing, or that of his young son and heir, the speed with which it happened following the transition is striking.
  
  Some will read that as a sign of political softening by the regime; others as a sign of North Korea's increasingly desperate need for food aid.
  
  Either way, if agreement is implemented (and many have failed), it will mark the first small step towards peace in more than three years.
  
  Yukiya Amano, director general of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the announcement was "an important step forward" and that inspectors stood ready to return to North Korea, Reuters reports.
  
  Earlier, a senior US military official said the issue of food aid for North Korea was now linked to political progress - contradicting earlier policy.
  
  The North has suffered persistent food shortages since a famine in the 1990s, and relies on foreign aid to feed its people.
  
  North Korea agreed in 2005 to give up its nuclear ambitions in return for aid and political concessions, as part of a six-nation dialogue process involving the two Koreas, the US, China, Russia and Japan.
  
  But progress on the deal was stop-start, and the agreement broke down in 2009.
  
  Contact between the US and North Korea aimed at restarting the talks began in July 2011.
  
  A meeting last week between US and North Korean officials in Beijing was the third round of talks aimed at exploring how to bring North Korea back to the negotiating table.

  
  
  

  Quote from Analysis:

  This deal is the first major international act of the new North Korean leader. But how much the agreement bears his personal stamp is unclear.
  
  The air in Seoul was thick with rumours at the end of last year, about a deal which offered concessions on North Korea's nuclear programme in return for American food aid.
  
  That was just before the former leader, Kim Jong-il, died - and contacts were disrupted.
  
  But whether this deal is his doing, or that of his young son and heir, the speed with which it happened following the transition is striking.
  
  Some will read that as a sign of political softening by the regime; others as a sign of North Korea's increasingly desperate need for food aid.
  
  Either way, if agreement is implemented (and many have failed), it will mark the first small step towards peace in more than three years.

  
  
  Source: BBC News
• Meikeru wrote on 2012-03-01 03:19
  Good sign for Un's sanity. Could be another sign that he'll care for the people he rules over, rather than being batshit insane.
• Kingofrunes wrote on 2012-03-01 03:21
  interesting. Hopefully it pans out this time. I'd love for North Korea to get along with us. Now if only North and South Korea could cool their jets a bit so that it isn't so tense over there.
  
  But who am I kidding on that one. The only thing we can really hope for is that talks resume successfully this time and we can reach some agreements.
  
  Either way, I think we need to denuclearize more and any treaty that we can come up with between Russia, Korea, and potentially Iran? to aid in that will make the world a much safer place.
• Kaeporo wrote on 2012-03-01 03:23

  In return, the US is finalising 240,000 tonnes of food aid for the North.

  
  
  I hope they actually receive it.
• Joker wrote on 2012-03-01 03:28
  a AMAZING first step
  if it goes through, I love Kim Jong Un already, as a leader (since I don't know him)
  
  240,000 Tonnes...... I could live 500+ years off that much >.< lol
• Claudia wrote on 2012-03-01 03:47
  An excellent first step, indeed. I expected as much, so yay.
• Milk wrote on 2012-03-01 03:52
  Wow this is actually amazing news :3
  
  Glad to hear this the world is abit less scary now
• BobYoMeowMeow wrote on 2012-03-01 04:36

  Quote from Kaeporo;791802:

  I hope they actually receive it.

  
  
  the cat bet Un's gonna be the one that receives it
  

  [Image: http://images.dailydawdle.com/kim-jong-un-wants-cake4.jpg]

  
  
  anyways on the serious note
  North Korea is suffering mass starvation
  even more than before
• TLCBonaparte wrote on 2012-03-01 06:50

  Quote from Milk;791832:

  Wow this is actually amazing news :3
  
  Glad to hear this the world is abit less scary now

  
  
  I never actually consider NK a threat, I mean if you seen NK you'll know they are really poor and living condition is baddddd. I am glad he might actually open NK to trade with other nation (although it's still not likely).
• TA wrote on 2012-03-01 06:52
  I'd like to see Korea reunite.
• Lan wrote on 2012-03-01 07:03

  Quote from TA;792063:

  I'd like to see Korea reunite.

  
  
  o____________o That would be a lot of work with a lot of problems. Kinda like the issues Germany had when East and West Germany were reunited, but much worse since a lot of their population live in a greater degree of poverty than those that lived in East Germany ever faced.
• Claudia wrote on 2012-03-01 07:04

  Quote from TA;792063:

  I'd like to see Korea reunite.

  
  
  Same. I actually think it might happen sometime soon (not next year or anything, but within 10-15 years I think.)
  NK will open themselves up, and if they do, it's possible that Korea could end up becoming unified again. Even if NK and SK don't unify, if NK opens itself up even just a little, their citizens will discover what they've been told is lies and they'll want freedom and eventually, communism might collapse.
  
  A lot of theoretical stuff, but yeah, that's what I think. I also think the U.S. should end its embargo with Cuba for the same reason. Communism'll collapse faster if these countries are opened up to us/the world.
• TLCBonaparte wrote on 2012-03-01 07:06

  Quote from Claudia;792087:

  Same. I actually think it might happen sometime soon (not next year or anything, but within 10-15 years I think.)
  NK will open themselves up, and if they do, it's possible that Korea could end up becoming unified again. Even if NK and SK don't unify, if NK opens itself up even just a little, their citizens will discover what they've been told is lies and they'll want freedom and eventually, communism might collapse.
  
  A lot of theoretical stuff, but yeah, that's what I think. I also think the U.S. should end its embargo with Cuba for the same reason. Communism'll collapse faster if these countries are opened up to us/the world.

  
  
  I highly doubt it, just because they are on the same level in term of civil liberty doesn't mean they don't hate each other's guts. Plus it's a big if whether NK will open up.
• BobYoMeowMeow wrote on 2012-03-01 07:06

  Quote from TA;792063:

  I'd like to see Korea reunite.

  
  
  and Kitae will finally be able to go back to Korea without being conscripted
• Hiccup wrote on 2012-03-01 07:08
  Yay Homefront is less likely to happen. Unless North Korea is secretly plotting something by doing this.
  
  
  Gain their trust, let em in, get their money and aid, then destroy them.