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North Korea offers nuclear moratorium

U.S. responds with food assistance

Paul Richter And Barbara Demick McClatchy Tribune Washington bureau

WASHINGTON – North Korea’s offer to suspend uranium enrichment and allow international inspectors into the country breaks an impasse over its nuclear program with the United States and offers a modest but encouraging step toward easing regional tensions.

The surprising move by North Korea, which also includes an agreement to halt long-range missile tests, was met by the Obama administration agreeing to offer Pyonyang 240,000 metric tons of food aid.

White House and other administration officials said the agreement reached Wednesday after two days of talks could lower Western anxieties about imminent provocations from the North’s new leadership, as well as help to relieve a famine. They noted, however, that although the deal opens the door to more intensive talks, it did not appear to be a major shift of North Korean policy.

South Korea, Japan and China offered similar cautious reactions.

The announcement marks the first agreement between the United States and North Korea since February 2007, when Pyongyang agreed to begin disabling its nuclear complex in return for $400 million worth of fuel oil and aid. The deal fell apart the following year, and North Korea, complaining the United States had not followed through on promises, resumed processing plutonium.

U.S. officials view the deal – which also includes an increase in cultural, educational and sports exchanges – as an opening to the international community following the Dec. 19 death of longtime leader Kim Jong Il of a heart attack. But it is far from clear if Kim’s son and successor, Kim Jong Un, would be any more open than his late father was to giving up nuclear weapons through negotiations.

North Korea released a statement from its Foreign Ministry saying the nuclear moratorium and weapons inspections had been accepted “with a view to maintaining positive atmosphere” for future U.S.-North Korea talks.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton described the agreement as “important but limited.” She said Washington “still has profound concerns” about Pyongyang’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and will watch to see if the regime adheres to its promises.

In Seoul, North Korea watchers reacted with guarded skepticism that the deal was anything new. Many warned that, by signing an agreement that is essentially limited in scope, North Korea again achieved the best of both worlds: It receives immediate food aid and is left with time to find loopholes to undermine the agreement.

“This deal is the same old story. I don’t know why Washington was so anxious to make this agreement, because it’s bound to backfire, and very soon,” said Lee Dong-bak, a former South Korean official who once negotiated with Pyongyang.

Lee said North Korea is not above trying to sow discord in both the U.S. and South Korea, both of which face major elections this year, by offering what amounts to “fool’s gold.”

North Korea expelled inspectors from the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency and restarted its main nuclear reactor at Yongbyon during a dispute with President George W. Bush’s administration in 2002. Since then, it has conducted two nuclear weapons tests, in 2006 and 2009.

The Obama administration cut off humanitarian aid in 2009 after a separate dispute over U.S. demands to monitor distribution to ensure North Korean officials did not siphon food from the needy to feed the military and the regime elite.

The new agreement seemed to contradict assertions by the Obama administration that it would supply food only to relieve hunger in the impoverished country, not as a negotiating tactic. North Korea has insisted that it would not consider suspending nuclear work unless it received aid in exchange.

Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, insisted the administration did not link humanitarian aid to nuclear negotiations.

“The food assistance is not a quid pro quo,” he said. “It’s not contingent upon the agreements to move forward on denuclearization.”

The arrangement may open Obama to charges on the campaign trail that he made a deal with a government that failed to honor similar agreements negotiated under President Bill Clinton and Bush.

Yet some former U.S. officials describe the agreement as worthwhile because it promises to interrupt North Korea’s nuclear program, if only temporarily. It also provides a test of the new regime’s intentions and trustworthiness.

“They are buying the same horse again, and (Obama’s rivals) politically can be expected to make that argument,” said Victor D. Cha, a White House adviser on Asia during the Bush administration. “But it’s useful to rein in a uranium (enrichment) program that’s been runaway for years, and the cost isn’t that high.”

Current and former U.S. officials said Wednesday that the arrangement suggests the regime may be more interested in using food to help bolster the standing of Kim Jung Un, who was little known before his father’s death, with North Koreans.

But the officials added that Kim Jong Il may have approved the deal before his death. The North Korean negotiators were the same officials who have handled the issue for years, and their presentation of the issues was the same as before.

“The new administration is picking up where the old one left off,” said a senior U.S. official, who spoke to reporters on condition he not be identified discussing negotiations. “What we’re seeing is a sign of continuity.”