N Korea to hand over its nuke dossier to China

BEIJING: North Korea will hand over the declaration of its nuclear programme to China on Thursday, enabling the US to de-list Pyongyang as a rogue nation, paving way for the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

"In the spirit of the October 3, 2007 Six Party Agreement, the DPRK (North Korea) will submit its nuclear declaration to the chair of the six-party talks on June 26, 2008," Chinese vice-foreign minister Wu Dawei said reading out a brief statement on Thursday.
    
China chairs the group of six, including the US, Russia, Japan and South Korea, which has coaxed North Korea to give up its nuclear programme in exchange of humanitarian and other benefits.

Wu is head of the Chinese delegation and country's top negotiator at the six-party talks hosted by Beijing.

Ealier, Pyongyang had overrun the deadline of 2007 end to hand over its declaration accounting for its nuclear weapon activities.

In exchange of the nuclear dossier, the United States will remove North Korea from its list of rogue countries and terminate application of the Trading with Enemy Act, Wu said.

The steps would mean that the US will no longer consider North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism and remove the country from its sanctions blacklist, paving the way for working of North Korea with the World Bank and other international institutions.
    
North Koreas declaration would, however, be subjected to verification and "there is agreement within the six parties on a set of principles to guide the establishment of a verification regime," Wu's statement said.

The six parties have also agreed to establish a monitoring mechanism to cover all obligations, including
nonproliferation and economic and energy assistance (to North Korea).

"The Six-Party Talks had made positive progress in its second-phase plan for implementing the Joint Statement of
September 19, 2005 following the "concerted efforts" of the six parties," it said, adding that the parties reaffirm the
goal to realise verifiable denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

"We believe that the developments will be conducive to implementing the second-phase actions in a comprehensive and
balanced manner, and the final realisation of all the goals in the joint statement of September 19, 2005 Joint Statement," Wu said.

Early last year, the six nations had clinched an atomic disarmament deal with North Korea after wrangling on some
issues.