BEIJING—North Korea handed over a long-delayed account of its nuclear activities on Thursday, the White House said, a step that will bring the North relief from U.S. sanctions but still leave questions about its atomic ambitions.
The United States said it would act to remove North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. The White House welcomed the action and said it would also lift sanctions on North Korea under the "Trading with the Enemy Act."
President George W. Bush will make a public statement at 1140 GMT.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice earlier told reporters in the Japanese city of Kyoto there was still work to do in verifying that North Korea, which tested a nuclear device two years ago, had given up the pursuit of atomic weapons.
She also underscored Washington's continued wariness.
"But still it must be asked: What if North Korea cheats?," Rice said in a commentary in the Wall Street Journal.
"The answer is simple: We will hold North Korea accountable. We will reimpose any applicable sanctions that we have waived–plus add new ones."
Experts on the long-running dispute said the declaration was a step forward, but one that took the negotiators deeper into uncertainties about who will make further concessions, and how much other countries are willing to trust Pyongyang.
"My take on this is that since this particular declaration has not included nuclear weapons or the exact number of warheads they have, that is a key concern. The other thing is whether or not the North Koreans have stopped work on the uranium enrichment programme and how far that has gone," said Lee Chung-min, a professor at Yonsei University in Seoul.
"Unless those two issues are verified, I think the third step towards complete dismantlement is still quite far off."
China, the closest Pyongyang has to an ally, has hosted six-country talks that last year secured a deal offering North Korea energy, aid and diplomatic concessions in return for disabling its main nuclear facility and unveiling its past nuclear activities.
That phase of the nuclear disarmament deal was due for completion by the end of 2007, but wrangling over money, aid and the contents of the North's "declaration" has held up progress.
The six-party talks bring together North and South Korea, China, the United States, Japan and Russia and there have been many expected near-breakthroughs over the years that never materialised.
Steam signals
The United States said North Korea had pledged to destroy on Friday the cooling tower at its Yongbyon nuclear complex, a symbolic event highlighting its commitment to disable the source of its bomb-grade plutonium.
The steam seen coming out of the cooling tower in spy satellite images has been the most visible sign of the plant's operation. In an unprecedented move, North Korea has invited some Western media to record the event.
The chief U.S. envoy to the talks, Assistant Secretary of State Chris Hill, told reporters on Wednesday before heading to join Rice in Kyoto that North Korea's declaration was likely to be soon followed by a new round of six-party negotiations.
Bush bracketed North Korea, Iraq and Iran in an "axis of evil" after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, accusing them of state-sponsored terrorism and of seeking weapons of mass destruction.
Removal from the U.S. list would ease trade restrictions and open the way for other cooperation with the United States, and eventually enable North Korea to work with the World Bank and other international institutions.
"What happens after the declaration will largely depend on domestic political factors in the United States," said Shi Yinhong, a regional security expert at Renmin University in Beijing.
"If U.S. domestic pressure is not big, President Bush will have room to offer North Korea more concessions before his term ends."
