U.S. eases sanctions against North Korea

BEIJING – North Korea handed over a long-overdue disclosure of its nuclear activity Thursday, and President Bush responded by easing some trade sanctions and pledging to take Pyongyang off a terrorism blacklist.

The coordinated actions marked a watershed in global efforts to coax reclusive North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons in exchange for assistance and recognition.

As a drizzle fell on China’s capital, North Korean diplomats entered the Foreign Ministry and delivered the lengthy declaration behind closed doors, six months after missing a deadline set out in talks with the United States, China and three other nations.

Within minutes, Bush appeared in the White House Rose Garden and hailed North Korea’s action as crucial to ending its international isolation.

“I’m pleased with the progress,” Bush said. “I’m under no illusions that this is the final step. This isn’t the end of the process.”

In the declaration, which wasn’t made public, North Korea is thought to have disclosed details of its nuclear programs – which will enable officials to figure out how much plutonium it has – without saying how many nuclear weapons or warheads it has built. Outside experts said the loophole was a sign of desperation by the lame-duck Bush administration to leave a diplomatic legacy in its final months.

“There has been an awful lot of watering down,” said Aidan Foster-Carter, a North Korea expert at Leeds University in Britain, referring to backtracking from initial demands by the Bush administration against a nation it once termed part of an “axis of evil.”

When the United States joined China, North Korea, South Korea, Russia and Japan in 2003 to begin multinational talks on the Korean nuclear crisis, the Bush administration demanded complete and irreversible dismantlement of North Korea’s nuclear activities, and said international monitors had to be able to verify that it remained that way.

Thursday’s action, however, still leaves doubt about whether Kim Jong Il’s regime has made the strategic decision to give up nuclear weapons or is simply angling for assistance and better relations with its onetime foes.