Analysis: Can Kim Jong Il's Pledge to Suspend Nuke Tests Be Trusted?

SEOUL, South Korea — -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is in Russian claiming he is ready to limit nuclear arms testing and production "without pre-conditions."

That is if international six-party talks on aid-for disarmament talks resume, which North Korea walked out of three years ago.

Kim's pledge came out of the summit with Russian President Dimitry Medvedev at a military base in a Siberian town near Lake Baikal.

The two also agreed to move forward on an idea of laying pipeline across North Korea so that Russia could ship and export natural gas to South Korea.

How significant is this pledge of suspending nuclear weapons program?

North Korea has repeatedly broken promises in the past, so actually halting the nuclear program which they have been holding onto as their lifeline and powerful source of threats would be very unlikely.

So far, North Korea has been saying they are ready to come back to the six-party talks, although they were the ones who walked out of discussions with the U.S., South Korea, Japan, China, and Russia in 2008.

Much has taken place since then that basically left little chance of moving forward in the talks. The international community has been pressuring the North with sanctions pushing the already frail economy to a devastated economy. North Korea has sunk a South Korean navy boat and fired artillery onto a South Korean island killing dozens. So at the moment, the U.S., Korea and Japan have been demanding that Kim Jong Il apologize for the atrocities before any talks resume.

Kim's pledge to limit or stop its weapons program is new offer on North Korea's part. But this rare trip to Russia is more of a public relations exercise. Kim has been to China three times last year whereas the last visit to its other ally Russia was nine years ago. So it's more of a balance gesture since he is in desperate need to extract more aid. North Korean economy is in big trouble after the South Korean government halted the influx of both official and unofficial aid to the North, whose food production has also been hurt by floods.