>> This is bbc world. The main news this hour: A deal to end North Korea's nuclear weapons programme was reached at six-party talks in Beijing. Explosions have thorn through two buss in Lebanon. At least four people have been reported killed. Our correspondent Daniel Griffis has been following events in Beijing. Charles Scanlon is in Seoul. I ask them both what they make of today's announcement on North Korea's nuclear programme and the chances of the agreement lasting.

>> I think we've got a long way to go yet, Mike. Certainly what this is a very important first step. There's no doubt about that. Bear in mind we've had more than three years of talks without any major progress. Now for the first time the North Koreans and the other countries have signed on the dotted line. The North Koreans have committed themselves to shutting down their main nuclear facilities. They've committed themselves to opening up those facilities to international inspectors, as well. So these are pretty big steps. But we still have a long way to go, a lot of unresolved questions because, of course, the North Koreans are talking about shutting down their nuclear reactor. What happens to those weapons that most intelligence agencies believe the North Koreans already have in their nuclear arsenal? No mention of those in any final agreement. So this is an important step forward, but there's stale long way to go, Mike.

>> Let's head to Charles Scanlon in the South Korean capital. Are you getting any sense about what happens just for one question to the weapons that North Korea allegedly already has?

>> Well, I think that's the whole point really. What we're looking at now is a containment exercise of North Korea. That plant at Yongbyon is churning out enough plutonium for about one weapon a year. When the possibility of a freeze was raised last year, the United States wasn't interested in the freeze. They wanted to roll back the whole North Korea nuclear programme, but they've considerably softened their position now. They've decided that a freeze of that plant is better than nothing and hopefully a first step to something more substantial. But as far as North Korea is concerned, this is a very big diplomatic victory because they're in a much stronger position than they were a few years ago, and, of course, it's only a few months since they tested that nuclear device.

>> Charles, what do you think makes this deal different? In a sense we've been here before in 1994 with the Clinton administration in Washington. Very similar deal in some respects but it's foundered because most people feel Pyongyang was using it as a cover to pursue its programme.

>> A lot of people in this region will be asking lots of hard questions to the United States because they'll be saying that you through away the agreed framework back in 2002. People here would say it wasn't perfect, but at least it did contain the North Korean nuclear programme. There was some ambiguity about North Korea's nuclear capabilities. What they've done is used the last four years of confrontation to push ahead with the extraction of plutonium. They've tested a bomb. They now may have eight or nine nuclear weapons, and now we're going back to a freeze. People in the region will say it's been wasted four years and the United States' policy really hasn't helped.

>> Daniel, in Beijing, if it is for real, do you get a sense of what it was that plead the

-- that made the difference?

>> I think certainly the Chinese have played an important role after the test at the end of 2006 that Charles was talking about. The Chinese went to Pyongyang and really read the riot act to the North Koreans, pretty much demanding that they return to the negotiating table. So that has certainly been an important factor. And the Chinese will be happy that at least some sort of agreement has been reached, but as Charles was pointing out; there really is still a long way to go, and the Chinese will feel that really they want to see much more of a commitment from the North Koreans, as well, because as we already discussing really in that sense, it's a victory for the North Koreans more than anything else. At the moment they get to hang on to the nuclear weapons they already have in their arsenal, and really in that sense it is a real victory for the North Koreans. Certainly the Chinese will want to see more from them in that regard, as well.