Did Diplomacy Work?

President Bush said today there is hope for a peace treaty if North Korea gives up its nuclear weapons, potentially ending conflicts with a country that the U.S. has been technically at war with for more than 50 years.

Reuters reports Bush as saying:

"We're looking forward to the day when we can end the Korean War. That will happen when Kim Jong-il verifiably dismantles his weapons programme," said Bush.

This comes as good news for North Korea, who agreed five days ago to disable their nuclear program by the end of the year:

We had very good, very substantive talks," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Chris Hill told reporters. "One thing that we agreed on is that (North Korea) will provide a full declaration of all of their nuclear programs and will disable their nuclear programs by the end of this year, 2007."

Things could be looking up for the volatile region that is often overlooked due to conflicts in the Middle East. While South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun didn't seem too thrilled with what the president had to say, the peace-for-disarmament agreement seems to be a step in the right direction.