The Pyongyang government of North Korea has struck a deal during six-nation talks in Beijing that will see the country close down its Yongbyon nuclear reactor in return for fuel aid.
Under the agreement, which will see the reactor shut down within two months, the US and Japan have also pledged to begin talks with North Korea on building closer ties with the US set to remove the nation from its list of terror states.
In return North Korea will receive 50,000 tonnes of fuel aid or equivalent economic aid, which will increase by another one million tonnes of fuel oil when it permanently disables its nuclear operations, as verified by the international community.
North Korea has committed to shut down and seal all operations at the primary nuclear facilities it has used to produce weapons-grade plutonium within the next 60 days and has agreed to allow international inspectors to verify and monitor this process. In addition to those immediate actions, North Korea has also committed to disclose all its nuclear programs and disable its existing nuclear facilities as an initial step toward abandoning all of those programmes and facilities under international supervision.
