The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) said Monday
that the United States has agreed to remove the country from a list
of states that sponsor terrorism and lift economic sanctions.
The US decision was the product of a two-day meeting in Geneva,
Switzerland where the DPRK agreed to declare and disable its
nuclear weapons programs by the end of 2007.
"The (Geneva) meeting discussed the goals for the next phase of
the implementation of the Sept. 19 joint statement and reached a
series of agreements," the official Korean Central News Agency
(KCNA) quoted a spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry as
saying.
The two sides discussed the issue of taking practical measures
to neutralize the existing nuclear facilities in the DPRK within
this year, the spokesman said.
The spokesman confirmed that the DPRK will dismantle the nuclear
facilities in Yongbyon at the end of this year, but the KCNA report
did not mention whether the DPRK would declare all of its nuclear
programs closed by the end of this year.
According to Christopher Hill, chief nuclear negotiator for the
United States, the DPRK had agreed to "provide a full declaration
of all of their nuclear programs and will disable their nuclear
programs by the end of this year, 2007."
"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," the spokesman
added.
The DPRK had repeatedly demanded removal from the terror
sponsors list, which is considered a key element in the
relationship between the two countries.
The spokesman also said the Geneva talks "laid a groundwork for
making progress at the plenary session of the six-party talks to be held in the future."
Besides the US and the DPRK, the six-party negotiations also
involve China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, and Russia. The next
full session of the six-party negotiations is expected to start in
Beijing in mid-September.
(Xinhua News Agency September 4, 2007)
