Seoul: North Korea's inexperienced young leader has taken his first big step on the international stage by doing a deal with the United States little more than two months after the death of his father in a move that will help establish his credibility.
The reclusive state agreed to suspend nuclear tests, halt long-range missile launches and enrichment of uranium at a nuclear facility and allow back nuclear inspectors, completing a key piece of business left unfinished by the death in December of Kim Jong-il who ruled the impoverished state for 17 years.
Wednesday's announcement by Washington and Pyongyang will likely see aid for disarmament talks resume.
But few believe Kim Jong-un, thought to be in his late 20s, has any intention of abandoning the nuclear aspirations that came to define his father's rule and were the one bit of leverage he had with the outside world, in particular the United States.
"In the long run, they hope to make a deal about arms restriction, as opposed to disarmament," said Andrei Lankov of Kookmin University in Seoul.
"They are willing to freeze their nuclear programme, if they are paid a hefty fee, and explicitly or implicitly allowed to keep some stockpiles of plutonium and/or nuclear devices."
First step
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dubbed the decision to a "modest first step".
The deal with Washington, that also involved consultations with China, the North's main backer, and Russia, continues a pattern by Pyongyang of playing off regional powers and a policy of seeking to isolate South Korea from its ally in Washington.
The deal came at the height of joint military drills by US and South Korean forces aimed at deterring aggression by the North, a regular occasion for Pyongyang to unleash vitriolic rhetoric against Washington.
