From FOX News: North Korea Agrees to End Nuke Program.

North Korea agreed Tuesday after arduous talks 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. ...

Under the deal, the North will receive initial aid equal to 50,000 tons heavy fuel oil within 60 days for shutting down and sealing its main nuclear reactor and related facilities at Yongbyon, north of the capital, to be confirmed by international inspectors. ...

Already before its adoption, the deal drew strong criticism from John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., who urged President Bush to reject it.

"I am very disturbed by this deal," Bolton told CNN. "It sends exactly the wrong signal to would-be proliferators around the world: 'If we hold out long enough, wear down the State Department negotiators, eventually you get rewarded,' in this case with massive shipments of heavy fuel oil for doing only partially what needs to be done."

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Kim Win-Win 
Jules Crittenden

Pending nuke deal with North Korea would appear to let Kim Jong Il have his cake and eat it, too. He keeps his nukes and gets a fuel and energy handout. The phased approach should provide great opportunities for a master chiseler like Kim. No details on how big the first installment in the fuel-and-energy shakedown will be, but this sounds like a deal that gives Kim’s obscene regime a new lease on life.    

The deal is expected to require North Korea to close and seal its main nuclear reactor within six weeks and also allow international nuclear inspectors into the country for the first time in more than four years. North Korea would receive energy and economic assistance, as well as security guarantees, but the timetable for these rewards remained unclear.

… In Washington, hard-liners in the Bush administration have been deeply suspicious of taking a diplomatic approach and have argued that North Korea has no intention of abandoning its nuclear weapons. Mr. Hill, who has spent much of the past two months traveling the world to resuscitate the talks, has described the objective as a step-by-step process that would dismantle the North’s nuclear arsenal rather than freeze it. ...

I’ll be very surprised if this deal buys any kind of nuclear security in northeast Asia or end to the North Korean threat that can’t be accomplished by simply explaining that we will level the country if they try anything.  The North Korean regime is well established as a mob of lying, thieving, cheating, counterfeiting, abducting thugs who are utterly unreliable for anything not involving the abovementioned activities.  They must be overjoyed to have a long, drawn out process ahead with numerous opportunities to throw tantrums, stage crises, and otherwise set the stage for further extortion. 

In the interest of maintaining the status quo, avoiding a refugee crisis and the massive upheaval and instability that the regime’s fall could bring, the other five parties have agreed to subsidize Kim’s nation-sized concentration camp. ...

*** Update and bump. Original timestamp 2007.02.13.16:56

North Korea Pact Has Its Critics 
Ed Morrissey

... and they come from across the political spectrum. From conservative hard-liners such as John Bolton to Bush critic and Presidential wanna-be Joe Biden, the White House has come under heavy criticism for different aspects of the deal:

The deal that could lead North Korea to shut its main nuclear reactor came under criticism from both ends of the political spectrum immediately after it was announced on Tuesday.

From the right, hardliners argued that the United States should have held out until North Korea agreed to fully declare and dismantle its entire nuclear program. From the left, Democrats argued that the deal was no better than one they said the United States could have gotten four years ago, before North Korea tested a nuclear bomb. ...

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Video: Bolton slams Bush over North Korea deal
Allahpundit

Bret Baier of FNC threw [Bush] a curveball at today’s press conference: how could the North Korea deal be so allegedly sweet when the president’s own high-profile former ambassador to the UN thinks it’s crap? The Foxies surely knew the question was coming because they had JB himself standing by for reaction as soon as the presser ended. His take jibes with NRO’s:

The longstanding debate about North Korea in U.S. diplomatic circles has been whether to attempt reforming the regime through negotiations and incentives or forcing its eventual collapse through sanctions and isolation. After Kim’s nuclear test, the Bush administration moved forcefully in the latter direction. Much to everyone’s surprise, it managed to bring the U.N. Security Council along with it. Kim’s promise now to behave himself may well have been an act of desperation as the sanctions began to bite. This was no time to loosen their jaws. On the bright side, we’ve won a promise from a liar.

In other words, whither the axis of evil?