The United States said on Wednesday that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) had agreed to suspend nuclear activities.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testifies during a hearing before the House Appropriations Subcommittee of State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs, on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., capital of the United States, Feb. 29, 2012. [Xinhua]

 

The White House hailed the suspension as a "positive first step" towards the resumption of the six-party talks, which involves the DPRK, the Republic of Korea, China, the U.S., Russia and Japan.

"These are concrete measures that we consider a positive first step toward complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner, which remains this administration' s core goal," White House spokesman Jay Carney said at a regular news briefing.

The DPRK said on Wednesday that it would suspend nuclear tests, long-range missile launches and uranium enrichment activity as agreed with the U.S. in bilateral talks in the Chinese capital of Beijing last week, Xinhua reported.

In addition, the DPRK agreed to the return of UN inspectors to "verify and monitor the moratorium on uranium enrichment activities at Nyongbyon and confirm the disablement of the 5-MW reactor and associated facilities."

In return, Washington agreed to meet the DPRK to finalize the details to move forward with proposed 240,000 metric tons of American nutritional assistance.

"We believe that it is a positive sign that, in a relatively short period after the change of leadership in North Korea, that the DPRK decided to re-engage with the United States in substantive discussions and to take some positive initial steps," Carney said.

He challenged the DPRK to follow up with actions, saying " Commitments to do something are one thing, actually doing them are another."

"Now, our starting point is we expect continuity in behavior from the North Korean leadership," he added.