This is potentially great news for those of us who think the fewer nuclear weapons out there, the better: North Korea has agreed to give up all its nuclear programs in exchange for energy and security guaranteees.

An excerpt from the NYT story:

North Korea agreed Monday to end its nuclear weapons program in return for security, economic and energy benefits, potentially easing tensions with the United States after a two-year standoff over the North's efforts to build atomic bombs.

The United States, North Korea and four other nations participating in negotiations in Beijing signed a draft accord in which the North promised to abandon efforts to produce nuclear weapons and re-admit international inspectors to its nuclear facilities.

Foreign powers said they would provide aid, diplomatic assurances and security guarantees and consider North Korea's demands for a light-water nuclear reactor.

The agreement is preliminary and will require more rounds of negotiations to flesh out because it does not address a range of issues like timing and implementation that are likely to prove contentious. China announced that the nations taking part in the talks would reconvene in November to continue ironing out the details.

Even so, the agreement marks the first time since the United States accused North Korea violating a previous accord in 2002 that the two countries have drawn up a road map for ending their dispute through peaceful means.

Here's a link to the text of the joint statement.

Here's a BBC timeline on the talks.

And here's the Beeb's initial Q-and-A on the deal.