by Joseph Yun Li-sun

Washington and Pyongyang announce deal that might restart six-nation nuclear disarmament talks. Source tells AsiaNews that "clear signals" are needed before "relations with North Korea can thaw"."

Seoul (AsiaNews) - North Korea's pledge to suspend nuclear activities has been met with appreciation and suspicions. "South Korea must wait and evaluate everything with calm. Historically, every military escalation by Pyongyang hit us and we cannot afford faux pas," a South Korean government source told AsiaNews, anonymous for security reasons.

The North Korean regime yesterday announced a moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests as well as uranium enrichment in exchange for food aid from the United States.

Announced in Washington and Pyongyang, the agreement has raised hopes for a restart the six-nation talks (North and South Korea, United States, China, Japan and Russia) on nuclear disarmament that have been stalled since December 2008.

Beijing welcomed improved relations between North Korea and the United States and their contribution to maintaining peace on the Korean Peninsula, the China's Foreign Ministry's website said.

Moscow did the same. Russia's Foreign Ministry welcomed the moratorium on testing nuclear weapons, long-range missiles and uranium enrichment.

During the four years in which talks were suspended, Russia and China have put pressure on North Korea to come back to the negotiating table, whilst the United States, Japan and South Korea have stressed that Pyongyang must first show that it is serious about giving up its nuclear programme.

"The enthusiasm of some countries is undoubtedly genuine," the source told AsiaNews. "But they, like us, know that we are dealing with an unstable government in a militarised society. We are not prepared to start shipping humanitarian aid again, let alone restart with our openness policy, unless we have certain proof of North Korea's intentions."

Japan is also sceptical. For Tokyo, restarting talks is still premature. "Are we in a situation where the six-party talks will be resumed immediately? I don't think we are. But the situation surrounding the matter is improving," Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba. In his view, the deal was an important step but warned "concrete action" was needed.

• north
• south
• korea
• moratorium
• nuclear
• japan
• russia
• united
• states
• china
• food
• aid