North Korea steps back, but South Korea remains on high alert

Pyongyang has agreed to re-admit nuclear inspectors and sell 12,000 plutonium rods, according to unofficial envoy

h Korea has stepped back from the brink of war and is ready for a new round of regional peace talks, an unofficial US envoy to Pyongyang said today as a sceptical South Korea kept its troops on high alert and lit up a provocative Christmas tree on the border.

Bill Richardson, governor of New Mexico, said North Korea has promised to re-admit United Nations nuclear inspectors and to sell its neighbour 12,000 plutonium fuel rods, which would reduce its potential bomb-making stockpile.

"My sense is the North Koreans realise that they have moved too negatively against negotiations, that they have taken some very bad steps and they wanted to move in the right direction," Richardson told reporters. "I think it is important that a new effort at re-engagement takes place among the six-party countries [involved in nuclear talks]. Maybe now is the time for the six-party countries to reach out to North Korea and say, 'Okay, let's get down to business.' "

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