Brussels, 19/09/2005 (Agence Europe) - The High Representative of the EU for CFSP, Javier Solana, has welcomed the agreement concluded in Beijing on Monday as part of the "Six Party Talks", at which North Korea pledged to abandon all its nuclear programmes. In exchange for this commitment, South Korea, the United States, Japan, Russia and China will provide Pyongyang with energy aid and guarantees in terms of safety. They will also work towards a normalisation of their relations with North Korea, which has been living in a virtual autarchy until now. "I welcome the commitment by North Korea to abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programmes and to return at an early date to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and to IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) safeguards. This is a significant step forward for regional and global stability", said Mr Solana in a press release. "I am delighted in particular that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has now made a strategic choice to take the path of cooperation, and has reaffirmed the central importance of the Non-Proliferation Treaty and the International Atomic Energy Agency in underpinning global security", he continued. The South Korean minister for Unification, Chung Dong-Young, said that this was the first step towards the end of the conflict between the two Koreas, which dates back to the Cold War. The Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed el Baradeï, also welcomed the conclusion of the agreement with Pyongyang. Implicitly referring to the situation of Iran (see below article), he stressed that this agreement proved that dialogue was able to resolve a dispute on nuclear issues.