North Korea has agreed to freeze its nuclear program, ending months of tense international confrontation, President Clinton said Wednesday.
"These developments mark not a solution to the problem, but they do mark a new opportunity to find a solution," Clinton said at the White House.
Pioneering the breakthrough: former president Jimmy Carter, who returned from North Korea last week with dictator Kim Il Sung's promise to end the standoff.
Carter told CNN, "This was one of those perfect agreements where both sides won."
In return for the freeze, the United States will stop seeking sanctions on North Korea.
North Korea was threatening war if economic sanctions were imposed. Eventually, U.S. officials say, North Korea could win normalization of relations with the USA.
High-level talks between the United States and North Korea will resume July 8 in Geneva, the State Department said.
Mindful of North Korea's record of reneging on its commitments, Clinton added a note of caution: "The world will be the winner if we can resolve this, but we've not done it yet."
Others were more skeptical:
-- Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan., blasted Clinton for assuming Kim will keep his word, "with no evidence that North Korean words mean any more today than they have for four decades."
-- "The president is grossly exaggerating the importance of some pleasant rhetoric from the North Koreans," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
Two rounds of talks last year failed to resolve the dispute; some experts believe North Korea has a nuclear weapon.
