North Korea agreed to take steps toward nuclear disarmament under a groundbreaking deal struck on Tuesday that will bring the impoverished communist state more than $300 million worth of aid, Reuters reports.
Under the agreement, which was reached by six countries in Beijing after nearly a week of talks, Pyongyang will freeze the reactor at the heart of its nuclear program and allow international inspection of the site.
The proposed plan hammered out by the two Koreas, the united States, Japan, Russia, and China will only be the first step in locating and dismantling North Korea’s nuclear arms activities, leaving many crucial questions to future negotiations.
Under the agreement, North Korea must take the steps within 60 days, and in return it will receive 50,000 tonnes of fuel or economic aid of equal value.
It will receive another 950,000 tonnes of fuel oil or equivalent when it takes further steps to disable its nuclear capabilities, including providing a complete inventory of its plutonium- the fuel used in Pyongyang’s first nuclear test blast in October.
The one million tones of fuel would be worth around $300 million at current prices for heavy fuel oil, which is used in power stations, shipping and elsewhere.
The steps for now do not involve the provision of 2,000 megawatts of electricity that South Korea pledged in a September 2005 deal reached by the six countries. That is reserved for after the completion of denuclearisation of North Korea.
The electricity, at an estimated cost of $8.55 billion over 10 years, woyld be about equal to North Korea’s current output.