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US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said North Korea's move was a "step in the right direction"
The US has welcomed North Korea's pledge to suspend uranium enrichment, as well as nuclear and long-range missile tests.
The White House spokesman Jay Carney said the move was a "positive first step" toward denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.
The move follows talks between US and North Korean diplomats in Beijing last week.
In return, the US has announced 240,000 tonnes of new food aid for the North.
North Korea confirmed the suspension in a foreign ministry statement released in Pyongyang on Wednesday.
It said they were "aimed at building confidence for the improvement of relations" between the two countries, and said talks would continue.
The US State Department said Pyongyang had also agreed to allow UN inspectors to monitor its reactor in Yongbyon to verify compliance with the measures.
"These are concrete measures that we consider a positive first step toward complete and verifiable denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula in a peaceful manner," Mr Carney said.
Analysis
In Washington, the feeling among officials and analysts is that this is a useful but limited step forward.
Having inspectors on the ground in North Korea will, they believe, be very useful, but the optimism is coloured by a sense that promises like these have bloomed and withered many times in the past.
For Mr Obama, the agreement reduces the chances of a serious North Korean nuclear crisis during his re-election year.
And what do the North Koreans get? They will receive shipments of "nutritional assistance" for a hungry population weeks before a politically important celebration - the anniversary of Kim Il-sung's birth.
One crucial area not addressed, we're told: uranium enrichment facilities which may exist outside Yongbyon. US analysts remain worried that North Korea possesses as yet undiscovered centrifuges.
In all, the agreement - if it sticks - may help the chances of a resumption of comprehensive denuclearisation talk.
"But obviously they need to be followed up by actions. So, we will pursue this policy area with that approach in mind," he added.
The move comes two months after Kim Jong-un came to power following the death of his father, Kim Jong-il.
Correspondents say it could pave the way for the resumption of six-party disarmament negotiations with Pyongyang, which last broke down in 2009.
'First step'US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the US still had "profound concerns" over North Korea, but hailed the development as a "first step".
Yukiya Amano, director general of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the announcement was "an important step forward" and that inspectors stood ready to return to North Korea, Reuters reports.
Earlier, a senior US military official had said the issue of food aid for North Korea was now linked to political progress - contradicting earlier policy.
The North has suffered persistent food shortages since a famine in the 1990s, and relies on foreign aid to feed its people.
North Korea agreed in 2005 to give up its nuclear ambitions in return for aid and political concessions, as part of a six-nation dialogue process involving the two Koreas, the US, China, Russia and Japan.
But progress on the deal was stop-start, and the agreement broke down in 2009.
Contact between the US and North Korea aimed at restarting the talks began in July 2011.
Last week's meeting between US and North Korean officials in Beijing was the third round of talks aimed at exploring how to bring North Korea back to the negotiating table.
01 Mar, 2012
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Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-asia-pacific-17215805
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