The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Beijing

Having coaxed North Korea to shut an aged reactor, disarmament talks resuming this week face the harder task of persuading Pyongyang to loosen its grip on broader atomic ambitions it has long held vital to survival. North Korea locked its Soviet-era Yongbyon nuclear plant and allowed U.N. atomic monitors back to the site in July, following a February 13 deal made at six-party talks in Beijing. In return, Pyongyang has received shiploads of heavy fuel oil and held bilateral talks with the United States that could eventually bring the impoverished fortress state out of diplomatic isolation. But having reached that milestone, negotiators meeting from Thursday must begin to line up a daunting set of decisions -- especially how to disable Yongbyon and what details North Korea must disclose in its declaration of atomic activities.