For the first time in years, there seems to be a shift in the rhetoric coming from Pyongyang. North Korea's reclusive leadership has always taken a bellicose and aggressive stance when it comes to agreeing to terms over its nuclear programme. Regional powers and the West have tried for the past decade to have Pyongyang abandon its quest for nuclear power — and weapons — particularly when the people in the Stalinist state have been on the verge of starvation.
Only generous donations of food and aid have kept the bulk of the North's population from starving, with malnutrition commonplace.
With the death of Kim Jong-il last December, there was always doubt as to how his successor, Kim Jong-un, would react. Or, if indeed he had the full reins of power in a state where suspicion and paranoia is rife.
Thre are signals from North Korea's new leadership. It has agreed to suspend nuclear tests and uranium enrichment as part of a deal that includes more food for its people.
In the past, Kim Jong-il made such announcements, agreeing to monitoring of the secretive state's nuclear facilities and programmes. Those promises were hollow, with Pyongyang continuing to talk and act tough. The policy seemed then to be one of turning up the ante, winning concessions, and reverting to aggression to win more concessions and aid. It was a dance that grew tired very quickly.
The sentiment coming from the North Korean capital now seems to be a willingness to negotiate and agree to suspension of its nuclear ambitions in return for food. If the new leader is putting food and full bellies ahead of nuclear ambitions, that is a welcome and positive step on a peninsula that remains technically at war.
Sadly, though, we have been down this road before. Time will tell whether Kim Jong-un is sincere.
