North Korea agrees to halt uranium work

WASHINGTON -- In an apparent breakthrough in long-stalled negotiations, North Korea has agreed to suspend its uranium enrichment and nuclear and long-range missile tests, the North Koreans and U.S. officials said yesterday. The United States is to provide food aid in return.

The simultaneous announcements in Pyongyang and Washington pointed toward an easing of nuclear tensions under new leader Kim Jong Un and could clear the way for resumption of the multination disarmament-for-aid talks that the North withdrew from in 2009.

The accord also opens the way for international nuclear inspections after years when the North's program went unmonitored.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called the North Korean announcement a "modest first step," but also "a reminder that the world is transforming around us."

Coming just over two months after the death of longtime ruler Kim Jong Il, it seemed to signal a willingness by the reclusive North Korean government to improve ties with the United States and win critical assistance. It still falls far short of an agreement to abandon the nuclear weapons program that Pyongyang has seemed to view as key to the government's survival.

In a key concession, North Korea said it had agreed to allow International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to verify and monitor a moratorium on uranium enrichment activities at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex, a program that the North unveiled to visiting U.S. academics in 2010.

Uranium enrichment could give it a second route to manufacture nuclear weapons, in addition to its existing plutonium-based program. At low levels, uranium can be used in power reactors, but at higher levels it can be used in nuclear bombs. The North has conducted two nuclear tests since 2006 and has conducted a long-range rocket test, in defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions.

IAEA monitors will also confirm disabling of a nuclear reactor at Yongbyon and associated facilities, the United States said.

Clinton said the United States will meet with North Korea to complete details for a proposed package of 240,000 metric tons of food aid, referring to it as "nutritional assistance."

She said intensive monitoring of the aid would be required, a reflection of U.S. concerns that food could be diverted to the North's powerful military. The United States said there was the prospect of additional assistance based on continued need.