North Korea gave China the long awaited accounting of its nuclear activities, as agreed in the six-party talks. In return, the US will delist NK as a state sponsor of terrorism and lift some trade sanctions:
The United States on Thursday welcomed a long-delayed North Korean account of its shadowy nuclear activities and said it would act to remove North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism.
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“North Korea has pledged to disable all its nuclear facilities and tomorrow will destroy the cooling tower of the Yongbyon reactor,” a White House statement said. The White House said the United States would respond by lifting sanctions on North Korea under the “Trading with the Enemy Act” and would also begin steps to remove Pyongyang from the U.S. blacklist of countries it considers sponsors of terrorism.
Of course, we’ve been rolled by NK before. But it would appear that the Administration’s long, persistent insistence on six-party talks rather than bilateral negotiations has yielded something worthwhile. China’s long term willingness to police the accord and ensure that its client state abides by it is the big question.
