But negotiations broke down last year over Pyongyang's refusal to accept a verification plan for the declaration it made of it nuclear holdings and activities.

VOA: standard.2009.11.11

"The agreement verifiably limits, reduces excess Russian and US nuclear stockpiles, and it provides for an updated,streamlined, modern set of verification, monitoring and transparency provisions."

VOA: standard.2010.04.04

But negotiations have been stalled for months over Pyongyang's refusal to accept a verification program for the declaration of its nuclear holdings and activities it made last June.

VOA: standard.2009.03.25

The leaders are expected to repeat a call from G8 foreign ministers urging North Korea to "fully cooperate" in the verification of its nuclear declaration and settle the issue of the country's past abductions of Japanese nationals.

BBC: G8 summit: The key issues

America now wants more stringent inspection and verification of the North's missile and nuclear programmes, along with reductions in the threat posed by North Korea's armed forces, which are mostly massed along the border with the South.

ECONOMIST: Elections in the chill from the North

For the past 18 months AWE has co-operated with non-nuclear Norway and a London-based NGO, the Verification Research, Training and Information Centre (Vertic), on techniques for verifying that when a country promises to cut weapons, it really does.

ECONOMIST: The new nuclear pioneers