Sometimes talking does help. U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill has said that North Korea has agreed to end its nuclear program by the end of the year. The North Korean envoy said his country is willing to "to declare and dismantle" its nuclear program.
This declaration comes after two days worth of talks between the United States and North Korea that took place in Geneva.
The U.S. hopes that the talks will lead to a meeting later this month with North Korea, Japan, China, South Korea and Russia for six-nation talks. The meeting hopes to bring about the end of North Korea's nuclear program while improving relations between North Korea and the other countries.
"One thing that we agreed on is that the DPRK will provide a full declaration of all of their nuclear programs and will disable their nuclear programs by the end of this year, 2007,"
Hill told reporters.
The declaration also includes North Korea's uranium enrichment program, which many people believe could be used to develop nuclear weapons.
Kim Gye Gwan, the head of the North Korean delegation, told reporters separately, "We made it clear, we showed clear willingness to declare and dismantle all nuclear facilities." He mentioned no dates.
"We are happy with the way the peace talks went," Kim said.
Removing North Korea from the United State's list of state sponsored terrorists was also discussed, along with how North Korea could improve its relations with Japan.
In exchange for its cooperation, North Korea will begin receiving oil and other forms of aid. The United States will also begin the process of removing the country from its terrorism list.
The economically struggling country will eventually receive 950,000 tons of heavy fuel oil or an equivalent amount of other aid in exchange for irreversible dismantling its nuclear program.
The next full session of the six-nation talks should be held in mid-September.
North Korea Promises to Shut Down Nuclear Program
Email
Print
Share
del.icio.us
facebook
newsvine
reddit
stumbleupon
technorati