Since February 2007 there has been a roadmap between Washington and Pyongyang in place. It isn't called a roadmap, but it walks like one and quacks like one. A year ago, the idea of a bilateral agreement seemed almost inconceivable. But now we not only have an agreement but have moved a significant way along the road to a de-escalation of nuclear tensions since 2002 on the Korean peninsula and Pyongyang's admission that its nuclear programme was still in place.

Pyongyang's aim was always to break free of the six-party multilateral approach and negotiate directly with Washington. Finally Christopher Hill, America's point man on talks with the North, was given the freedom to find a deal. As with all roadmaps, it is full of stages and confidence-building measures (CBMs). Nobody said a roadmap with Pyongyang would be easy and it hasn't been - the initial sticking point of the North's US$25m stuck in a Macanese bank took time to resolve. However, it was; and IAEA inspectors gained access to the Yongbyon reactor and inspected it, and Pyongyang appears to be complying with the demand to shut it down.