North Korea on Tuesday agreed to dismantle its weapons-oriented nuclear programme in return for energy aid as envoys to the six-party talks clinched an elusive deal with a joint statement on the first step towards a nuclear-free Korean peninsula.
Under the joint statement, North Korea will shut down and seal the Yongbyon nuclear facility within 60 days, including the reprocessing facility and invite back International Atomic Energy Agency personnel to conduct all necessary monitoring and verifications.
The parties agreed to the provision of emergency energy assistance to North Korea in the initial phase, and aid equivalent to 50,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil will also commence within 60 days, the statement said.
The North will eventually receive another 950,000 tonnes for irreversibly disabling the reactor.
According to the document, negotiated for the past six days, all the parties agreed on the establishment of five working groups on the de-nuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, normalisation of North Korea-US relations, improvement in North Korea-Japan relations, economy and energy cooperation as well as Northeast Asia peace and security mechanism.
The working groups will discuss and formulate specific plans for the implementation of the September 19, 2005, statement in their respective areas, it said.
The parties also agreed that all working groups will meet within the next 30 days.
Representatives of all six countries agreed to hold the sixth round of talks on March 19 to discuss reports of the working groups and the actions for the next phase, the document said.
Chief envoys from host China, North Korea, South Korea, the United States, Japan and Russia have been meeting in Beijing since last Thursday on the vexed issue.
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