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The news is beginning to splash across the blogosphere and the AP wire that an agreement has been reached with North Korea about its nuclear programs.  Years of negotiations have failed to yield an agreement. After talks fell suspect to failure earlier in the week, noone expected an agreement in the coming days.  Negotiators have, however, proved skeptics wrong.  Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill notes his jubilance at the agreement, claiming that he’s “encouraged by this that we were able to take a step forward on the denuclearization issue.” 

The end of a 16-hour day full of negotiations has delivered an agreement.  The mainstream media has sparse details on the agreement, and news agencies like CNN are calling the agreement tentative.  Chinese Foreign ministry Spokesman Qin Gang followed up with a little bit more information, detailing that the parties “still have to make further consultation discussions so as to confirm the progress we made.”  Negotiations begin again tomorrow at 10:30AM Korean time, which equates to 9:30PM Monday ET. 

The initial enthusiasm may be short lived, however.  Several of the nations involved in the talks, including Japan, expressed doubt at the agreement.  Kenichiro Sasae, chief envoy from Japan, said it was “too early to tell” if the agreement was one that would be satisfactory to all parties.  North Korea’s demands were viewed as slightly excessive by South Korea and Japan.  It will be interesting to see how much of a compromise North Korea has made in order to reach this agreement.  The Arms Control Associaton provides a concise history of the conflict.  Previous negotiations with North Korea have resulted in successful agreements that broke apart because of North Korean noncompliance.  The original “Agreed Framework” can also be viewed courtesy of the ACA.  The agreement broke down in late 2002 after North Korea admitted to a nuclear program after being confronted with evidence by the US. 

Needless to say, any sort of agreement with the North Koreans is big news for the American people and for the entire world.  The dismantling of the North Korean nuclear program leaves one country left on the US “Axis of Evil”: Iran.  News about North Korea’s nuclear program died down after their claimed underground nuclear test on October 9, 2006.  Tensions with Iran were high this week as the US accused the country of arming insurgents in Iraq.  Newsweek did a special on the looming conflict with Iran, with a cover touting “America’s Hidden War with Iran.”  The Guardian, meanwhile, cited examples of US provocations.  A second US battle group was sent to the Gulf in anticipation of a conflict with Iran.  The report concluded that the “present military build-up in the Gulf would allow the US to mount an attack by the spring.”  Iran has vehemently dismissed American accusations and the Washington Post reports today that Bush has “softened his rhetoric on Iranian relations.”  In the report, Ahmadinejad calls for peace,

“We shy away from any kind of conflict, any kind of bloodshed,” Ahmadinejad told ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “As we have said repeatedly, we think that the world problems can be solved through dialogue, through the use of logic and a sense of friendship. There is no need for the use of force.”

Bush Softens Rhetoric on Iran Relations - washingtonpost.com

While the conflict with Iran seems far from reconciliation, the North Korean problem appears to have been solved, if only for a brief period of time.  The American people should expect to hear a lot about Christopher Hill’s success in North Korea, as it’s one of the few diplomatic successes the US government has had abroad in recent years.  We’ll be back with more commentary as more news is available.

Avid readers can watch for news from the wires, papers, blogs, and more at Breitbart.

technorati tags:iran, northkorea, christopherhill, kimjongil, us, nuclear, nuke

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The Nuclear No More: N. Korea Abandons Nuclear Ambitions by New School Politics, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.