North Korea nuclear agreement raises hopes

North Korea raised hopes for a major easing in nuclear tensions under its youthful new leader, agreeing to suspend uranium enrichment at a major facility and refrain from missile and nuclear tests in exchange for a mountain of critically needed U.S. food aid. The deal was announced simultaneously in Washington and Pyongyang yesterday, and follows three rounds of talks between US and North Korean officials in Beijing.

Amid hopes that the agreement heralds the start of a new era in relations between North Korea and the international community, White House spokesman Jay Carney described the arrangement as a "good first step" by North Korea: “This president’s policy, this administration’s goal is the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, and we have been very hard-nosed in pursuing that, and we will continue to be hard-nosed in pursuing that.”

The agreement was welcomed by the international community. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he hoped North Korea would move toward “a verifiable denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.” Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague said it was positive news, and the change in North Korean leadership offered a chance for “renewed engagement with the international community.”

The agreement yesterday was only a preliminary step but a necessary one to restart broader six-nation negotiations that would lay down terms for what the North could get in return for abandoning its nuclear weapons program.

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