China is key to making N. Korea deal work

The denuclearisation deal hammered out with North Korea is unsatisfactory. It is nowhere near as comprehensive and unequivocal as the resolution that was passed by the UN Security Council last October in response to Pyongyang's nuclear test. It omits any reference to North Korea's biological and chemical weapons programmes, and defers to a later stage such critical questions as Pyongyang's suspected enrichment of uranium. It is expensive: $300 million of oil — equivalent to around two thirds of North Korea's annual oil consumption — looks suspiciously like rewarding bad behavior. Pyongyang's undertakings will be inordinately difficult to monitor, and not only because it has broken all previous promises. The country is pocked with tunnels, bunkers and subterranean chambers where production facilities could be hidden.