"North Korea will soon give its declaration of nuclear programs to China," Rice said in a speech in Washington.

Following Pyongyang's declaration, President George W. Bush will formally inform Congress of plans to remove the DPRK from a list of state sponsors of terrorism and waive penalizing the country under the US Trading with the Enemy Act, Rice said.

"In the next 45 days after that, before those actions go into effect, we would continue to assess the level of North Korean cooperation in helping to verify the accuracy of its declaration ... If that cooperation is insufficient, we will respond accordingly," the top US diplomat said.

Rice made the announcement before US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill is due to visit Japan and China this week for further talks on the settlement of nuclear issues on the Korean peninsula.

Hill is due in Japan on Thursday where he will do six-party talk consultations with the government of Japan as well as some South Korean officials before going to China on Friday, State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said Tuesday.

Under an agreement reached at the six-party talks in Beijing in February last year, the DPRK agreed to abandon all nuclear weapons and programs and declare all its nuclear programs and facilities by the end of 2007, in exchange for diplomatic and economic incentives.

However, the DPRK missed the deadline due to its differences with other countries in the Korean nuclear disarmament talks.

The United States has been urging the DPRK to fully declare its nuclear programs and activities.