North Korea has agreed to stop nuclear tests, uranium enrichment and long-range missile launches and to allow inspectors to visit its Yongbyon nuclear complex as part of a deal to renew a moratorium on its nuclear program.

The announcement, made simultaneously by the US state department and North Korea's official news agency on Wednesday, paves the way for the possible resumption of six-party disarmament negotiations with the Communist state, and follows talks between US and North Korean diplomats in Beijing last week.

It also marks a significant policy shift by North Korea's reclusive leadership after the death in December of longtime ruler Kim Jong-il.

"The DPRK, upon request by the US and with a view to maintaining positive atmosphere for the DPRK-US high-level talks, agreed to a moratorium on nuclear tests, long-range missile launches, and uranium enrichment activity at Yongbyon and allow the IAEA to monitor the moratorium on uranium enrichment while productive dialogues continue," North Korea's official KCNA news agency said.

North Korea is known formally as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

'Profound concerns'

China, North Korea's only powerful ally, welcomed the announcement.

Foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in a statement posted Thursday on the ministry website that China welcomes efforts by the two sides to improve relations and preserve peace and stability on the Korean peninsula. He reiterated China's willingness to participate in efforts to restart the six-party talks.

The state department said the United States was ready to finalize details of a proposed food aid package of 240,000 metric tones of nutritional assistance, and that more aid could be agreed based on continued need.

"The United States still has profound concerns regarding North Korean behavior across a wide range of areas, but today's announcement reflects important, if limited, progress in addressing some of these," a state department statement said.

Al Jazeera's Kimberly Halkett, reporting from Washington DC, said that it was against US foreign policy to link "nutritional assistance" with political developments.

"[This move] is certainly going to come under the microscope in terms of US policy. The US has used [food aid] successfully as leverage and there is going to be some talk about that," she said.

The surprise announcement comes as the Obama administration steps up pressure on Iran over its atomic ambitions, which Western governments fear are aimed at producing nuclear weapons.

The announcement followed talks between the US and with North Korea last week in Beijing, the first such meeting since veteran leader Kim Jong-il's son, Kim Jong-un, succeeded his father as leader.

Six-party talks

North Korea agreed to curtail its nuclear activities under an aid-for-denuclearization agreement reached in September 2005 by six-party talks bringing together North and South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the US.

Under the agreement, the North agreed to abandon its nuclear programmes in exchange for economic and diplomatic incentives to be provided by the other parties involved in the negotiations.

But the embryonic deal was never fully implemented.

Instead, the North held two nuclear test blasts - in 2006 and 2009 - and later disclosed a uranium enrichment programme, giving it a second path to obtaining fissile material for bombs, in addition to its long-standing programme of producing plutonium.

The US, South Korea and their allies had been skeptical of North Korea's assertions that it stands ready to return to the six-party talks, and said they would insist on demonstrable evidence of the country's willingness to denuclearize before any such talks could resume.

PHOTO CAPTION
Map locating key nuclear sites in North Korea.

Aljazeera