Mick Hartley

So all is sweetness and light:

North Korea has agreed to take the first steps towards nuclear disarmament in return for fuel aid.

Chinese envoy Wu Dawei said an important consensus had been reached at the end of six-party talks in Beijing.

He said Pyongyang had agreed to close its Yongbyon reactor in return for 50,000 metric tons of fuel aid.

Under the deal, North Korea will eventually receive another one million tonnes of fuel oil when it permanently disables its nuclear operations.

50,000 metric tons of fuel aid for just saying they’ll close their reactor? Not bad. This nuclear blackmail business really works. But given Kim Jong-Il’s record with agreements, this really means just about nothing.