North Korea agrees to abandon nuclear programmes

BEIJING (Reuters) - North Korea agreed on Monday to give up all of its nuclear weapons and programmes in a landmark agremeent that caps two years of negotiations to defuse a high-stakes crisis. 

In exchange, South Korea, the United States, Japan, Russia and China -- the other players in the six-party talks in Beijing -- would provide oil, energy aid and seek to normalise ties with the impoverished and diplomatically isolated North.