North Korea's foreign ministry said yesterday that the US has decided to remove the communist state from its list of states sponsoring terrorism.
The US decision followed a meeting between the chief nuclear negotiators of the two countries in Geneva at the weekend, a foreign ministry spokesman told the official Korean Central News Agency.
"Both sides discussed the issue of taking practical measures to neutralize the existing nuclear facilities in the DPRK [North Korea] within this year and agreed on them," the spokesman said.
"In return for this the US decided to take such political and economic measures for compensation as delisting the DPRK as a terrorism sponsor and lifting all sanctions that have been applied according to the Trading with the Enemy Act," he said.
There was no immediate confirmation from the US.
But the North's spokesman said the latest talks with the US had "laid the groundwork for making progress at the plenary session of the six-party talks" aimed at ending the communist state's nuclear ambitions.
North Korea has already shut down a key nuclear reactor at Yongbyon under a six-nation agreement reached on Feb. 13. The deal also involves the US, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia.
Under the deal, North Korea agreed to make a full declaration of all its nuclear programs and to disable them in return for aid and security and diplomatic guarantees, notably normalizing ties with the US.
The six-party talks are expected to resume in Beijing later this month.
South Korea yesterday welcomed the North Korean agreement to declare and disable its nuclear programs by the end of the year, but cautioned that tough negotiations may still lie ahead.
"It's good news but it needs to be written on paper in the form of an agreement by the six countries [involved in nuclear talks]," said Chun Yung-woo, Seoul's top nuclear envoy.
His comments came a day after chief US negotiator Christopher Hill announced the agreement. Hill said it was the first time the North has set a timeline for declaring and disabling its nuclear programs.
Kim Kye-gwan, head of the North Korean delegation, said separately he had shown willingness to declare and dismantle all nuclear facilities, but he mentioned no dates.
South Korean presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-seon also hailed the Geneva agreement, calling it "a good signal" for a process to bring peace to the Koreas.
Cheon also said he expected the North to honor its commitment to declare and disable its nuclear programs by the end of this year as promised.
In Tokyo, newly appointed Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura expressed cautious optimism, saying the fact that positive discussions had taken place was "a very good way" for the six-party talks to make progress.
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