South Korea agreed Tuesday to provide North Korea with 500,000 tons in rice aid as the countries vowed to boost economic relations after the North announced it would end its boycott of nuclear disarmament talks.
The aid agreed to early Tuesday after all-night talks between the divided Koreas is separate from incentives the South has offered the communist North to lure it back to the international arms negotiations it has refused to attend for more than a year.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday the nuclear talks will fail unless North Korea is committed to abandoning its nuclear weapons.
