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US to remove DPRK from list of terror sponsors

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-06-26 21:24

WASHINGTON  -- The White House said Thursday that it will lift trade sanctions against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and remove the DPRK from its list of state sponsors of terrorism within 45 days.

The White House made the remarks in a statement released shortly after the DPRK submitted its nuclear declaration to the chair of the six-party talks, China, in Beijing.

"The United States will respond to the DPRK's actions by lifting the provisions of the Trading with the Enemy Act as well as announcing our intent to rescind the DPRK's designation as a State Sponsor of Terror in 45 days," the White House said in the statement.

"During this period, the United States will carefully assess the DPRK's actions particularly with regard to verification," it said.

The statement said the United States "welcomes the DPRK's declaration of its nuclear programs."

The DPRK's submission of the nuclear declaration "is an important step in the multi-step process laid out in the Six Party Talks between the DPRK, China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States," said the statement.

According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the DPRK ambassador to China Choe Jin Su submitted the declaration to Wu Dawei, China's top negotiator on the Korean Peninsular nuclear issue.

Under an agreement reached at the six-party talks in Beijing in October  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 despite reported progress in its nuclear disablement and declaration.

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