North Korea Hands Nuclear Docs to US

Seeming to move closer to US demands for information, North Korea handed key documents on its nuclear weapons program to an American diplomat today, the AP reports. The records provide information on the North’s silenced plutonium reactor, and would allow American officials to fact-check a still-awaited summary of the country’s nuclear workings.

The development wasn't the only one that could signal a thaw in relations between the countries: A deal could be close on US food aid to the North, which has depended on foreign help to fight famine since the mid-1990s. An earlier US attempt to provide food failed after the US insisted on overseeing distribution, but the North has warmed to US monitoring. (More North Korea stories.)