Talks on N. Korea aid for nuclear shutdown begin

North Korea offered its gratitude for oil given as a reward for shutting down its sole nuclear reactor, as it joined talks Tuesday with the US and other countries to hash out further details of aid for progress on disarmament. The two-day meeting at the truce village of Panmunjom on the border dividing the Korean Peninsula is being held under the auspices of the six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear program, which include China, Japan, Russia and South Korea. Experts from the countries were to discuss the technical details of how to provide North Korea with the equivalent of 950,000 tons of oil in exchange for declaring all its nuclear programs and disabling its facilities under a February agreement.