North Korea has agreed to suspend its enriched-uranium nuclear weapons programme, a key United States demand for the resumption of disarmament talks, news reports said Saturday. News agencies quoted an unidentified diplomatic source saying Washington had also agreed to provide the North with up to 240,000 tonnes of food aid. Pyongyang pledged “to implement initial measures of denuclearisation that include a suspension of its uranium enrichment programme,” they said.
The North apparently agreed to put stricter and clearer monitoring systems in place to ensure that the food aid reached those most in need, according to the source, they said. The agreements came when Robert King, US special envoy for North Korean human rights, met with Ri Gun, head of North American affairs at North Korea’s foreign ministry, on Thursday and Friday in Beijing, the source said.
The reports could not be independently confirmed. Suspending the uranium enrichment programme — first disclosed by the North one year ago — is a key demand of Washington’s before six-party negotiations can resume. According to sources, the two countries were likely to hold a third round of talks this coming week in Beijing to discuss resuming the six-party talks.
