Whatever the degree of consternation expressed by naysayers, it is just so much noise that does not alter the basic premise of the issue. This quid pro quo is the only means by which North Korea could reasonably be made to renounce its nuclear ambitions. Its national security goals will be achieved only if it has normal relations with the US - aside from Japan - and a formal end to the Korean War is declared. Much has been said about the material aid it will extract but this is essentially a business cost in securing a contract. Mr Kim Jong Il is months away from seeing out the second American president who has made North Korea a foreign policy issue. He has staying power, a factor critics have consistently failed to take into account. What is encouraging about the deal being readied is that the incentives of eventual diplomatic ties with the US and the flow of aid, trade and loans act as a block against duplicitous conduct by Pyongyang. The nuclear declaration has been only a necessary step in the long and still uncertain process of removing the North Korean threat. Blowing up the inoperative cooling tower at the Yongbyon reactor to go with the nuclear declaration was in a way theatrical, but it is more helpful to read it as serious intent by Pyongyang to get the process moving.