N. Korea Agrees to Ban Nukes

North Korea has promised to disable all of its nuclear facilities by the end of this year, the BBC reports, possibly paving the way for warmer relations between the US and a country it now lists as a supporter of terror. After meeting with representatives from the North, US negotiator Christopher Hill called the talks “very good and very substantive.”

In return, Pyongyang will receive economic and other aid to alleviate an energy crisis. In February, North Korea agreed to a similar arrangement, but progress was stalled by a dispute over frozen funds. The country has already shut down its main nuclear reactor in exchange for 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil. Further details of the deal will be hammered out later this month. (More North Korea stories.)