to draw criticism. However, it requires major concessions from the United States, to make good on an earlier promise to begin normalizing relations, a long-standing goal of North Korea, and to removing North Korea from its terrorism list. The United States also pledged to settle within 30 days a dispute concerning its accusations that a Macau bank was laundering illicit funds from North Korea.

These issues likely will spark opposition among Bush administration allies who still view North Korea as a member of the "axis of evil," as the president described the country along with Iraq and Iran in 2002. In addition, the aid package will need the approval of Congress. There, Bush likely will face a tough fight with conservative Republicans doubtful that Kim will relinquish the prestigehe perceives was gained when North Korea successfully tested a nuclear bomb last year.

Meanwhile, Democrats have been critical of a pact similar to one reached in 1994, before North Korea developed weapons capability.

The agreement represents at least the beginning of a process to mute tensions in the region, particularly with China, North Korea's primary patron , which brokered the deal after becoming alarmed with Pyongyang's defiance of Beijing's opposition to nuclear tests. For the Bush administration, the pact provides a rare foreign policy success at a time when the Iraq war and strains in the Middle East have eroded its global standing.