NORTH Korea has accepted the necessity for inspection of its declared nuclear facilities by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), but the international tension surrounding its suspected pursuit of nuclear weaponry is far from over.
For, after nearly a year of on-and-off negotiations, following Pyongyang's stated intention to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NNPT), the North Korean decision yesterday only takes the situation roughly back to where it was when the crisis began.
That was when Pyongyang balked at the IAEA making special inspections on demand of facilities which North Korea had not declared to the IAEA.
The demand arose because satellite photos revealed what the North Koreans had tried hard to conceal - two facilities which were in fact connected to nuclear installations, and in which nuclear waste was being held prior to the probably extraction of plutonium.
Faced with these demands, the North Koreans withdrew from the NNPT, a withdrawal which they have only suspended so far.
All that North Korea has now agreed is that its seven declared facilities can be inspected once again by the IAEA.