SEOUL: In another sign of warming relations between two wartime foes, a senior North Korean nuclear negotiator will attend a security conference in the United States, a person with knowledge of the negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang said on Thursday.

Word of Ri Yong Ho’s visit to the forum at Syracuse University comes on the heels of a breakthrough agreement that will provide much-needed US food aid to North Korea in exchange for a rollback of its nuclear programmes.

The agreement announced Wednesday sets in motion a plan laid out by North Korean leader Kim Jong Il before his death in December: to improve relations with the US and to get back to six-nation disarmament-for-aid negotiations. Significant challenges remain, however, in achieving the long-term goal of the US and other nations: to persuade Pyongyang to end its nuclear ambitions altogether.

First, diplomats need to iron out the tricky logistics of distributing, and monitoring, the 240,000 metric tons of US food aid earmarked for hungry North Korean children. They also need to work out a timeline for the return of UN nuclear inspectors tasked with verifying whether Pyongyang sticks to its promises.

And while the deal paves the way for unprecedented exchanges with the US, North Korea still must confront the complicated matter of improving relations with rival South Korea, still smarting from two deadly incidents in 2010 that Seoul blames on Pyongyang.—AP