The Rides and Tours

North Korea on Tuesday said it would not abandon its nuclear weapons programmes until it received light water power reactors from the US, less than a day after signing up to a watershed agreement aimed at resolving the nuclear crisis on the Korea peninsular.

In an abrupt U-turn that confirmed many fears about entering into any deal with Kim Jong-il’s regime, Pyongyang insisted that an alternative power source had to be provided before it took any steps towards denuclearisation, apparently putting the negotiations back where they started two years ago.