North Korea - with a “little pressure” from the Chinese appears to be backing off it’s nuke stance:

“BEIJING - In exchange for fuel aid, North Korea agreed Tuesday to shut down its main nuclear reactor and eventually dismantle its atomic weapons program, just four months after the communist state shocked the world by testing a nuclear bomb.

Reached after talks in Beijing with five other nations, the deal marks the first concrete plan for disarmament in more than three years of negotiations. The plan also could potentially herald a new era of cooperation in the region with North Korea’s longtime foes ‚Äî the United States and Japan ‚Äî also agreeing to discuss normalizing relations with Pyongyang.

“Obviously we have a long way to go, but we’re very pleased with this agreement,” U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters. “It’s a very solid step forward.”

Indeed. I’m suspicious. Four months ago Kim was defiant and rattling his sabre, today he’s speaking love peace and happiness? Can one stick a bayonet up one’s butt and call it “love”?

Ain’t buying it. I’m not alone. Mario Loyola at The Corner:

“I smell a rat. As AEI’s Nicholas Eberstadt has written for many years (and I’m sure will have something to say about this presently) the purpose of North Korea’s nuclear program is to guarantee regime survival through extortion. All the North Koreans have done here is agree to shut off their nuclear reactor (they can turn it back on whenever they want) and to do so only after shipments of oil begin and after we have let them have their counterfeit and laundered $25 million back. Meanwhile, the administration’s goal in the talks ‚Äî the verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of North Korea’s nuclear program ‚Äî has been left for future rounds of talks, which will now consist largely of bilateral face-to-face working groups. John Bolton is right ‚Äî the U.S. has conceded on substantial minimum demand while the North Koreans have conceded substantially nothing.

Sadly, this should come as no surprise. When Clinton forfeited the preemption option in 1994, and our offer of all the carrots in the world was rejected while millions starved to death in North Korea, this all became inevitable. The only thing we can do in North Korea now is cross our fingers and hope the extortion won’t be too painful. But let’s be clear: the extortion has begun.”

I agree. Can’t help the feeling that we have been mugged. Alas the price for ousting John Bolton is already costing us.

UPDATE: James S. Robbinson - “What‚Äôs Korean for ‚Äúsucker?‚Äù

“It will be interesting to see if this deal lasts any longer than the 2005 agreement; or does as much damage as the 1994 framework. Regardless, we have already been bested. Our failure to follow up on the momentum we acquired in the wake of the North Korean nuclear test was a strategic blunder. We have lost sight of the fact that the only way substantive and permanent change will come to the Korean peninsula is with the end of Kim Jong Il‚Äôs regime. Any agreement we reach with Pyongyang only serves to push that date further into the future. The ‚ÄúAssassin‚Äù certainly has a lot to smile about.”