US: Nuclear agreement a 'landmark'

The White House said today that a landmark agreement with North Korea was “a very important first step” toward the nuclear disarmament of North Korea and the Korean peninsula.

The agreement was announced in Beijing after arduous negotiations among six nations, requiring North Korea to shut down its main nuclear reactor and eventually dismantle its atomic weapons programme.

“If they don’t abide by the terms, they don’t get the benefits they desire,” White House press secretary Tony Snow said.

Snow said the agreement does not remove the threat of economic sanctions that have been authorised by the United Nations. “There is still a possibility of sanctions through the international community,” Snow said.

“And there is considerably more leverage on the North Koreans by virtue of the fact that you have the Chinese, the South Koreans, the Japanese and the Russians also involved here. They’re answerable not merely to the United States, but in fact to their own neighbours, who are significant stakeholders in this.”

The agreement has already drawn strong criticism from John Bolton, former US ambassador to the UN who urged President George Bush to reject it.