N.Korea to hand over nuclear report

North Korea was expected to hand China a long-delayed account of its shadowy nuclear activities on Thursday, a step that may see it removed from Washington's list of terrorist states.

A milestone on the way to ending its nuclear ambitions, the move could also win the reclusive state diplomatic recognition and desperately needed aid and fuel to prop up its economy.

However, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters in the Japanese city of Kyoto that 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.

"I do think it's important to note that if we can verifiably determine the amount of plutonium that has been made, we then have an upper hand in understanding what may have happened in terms of weaponisation," she said after arriving for a meeting with foreign ministers of the Group of Eight (G8) nations.

"So this (the declaration) is a natural step on the way to dealing with the devices or weapons themselves."

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.

Officials with knowledge of the latest negotiations said they expected China to receive the declaration late on Thursday.

North Korea is expected to follow this up with the demolition of the cooling tower at its Yongbyon nuclear complex, a symbolic event highlighting its commitment to disable the source of its bomb-grade plutonium. In an unprecedented move, the secretive state has invited some Western media to record the event.

ABDUCTIONS ISSUE UNRESOLVED

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.

Washington has said it could move quickly to remove North Korea from its list of terrorism sponsors after the declaration. President George W. Bush bracketed North Korea, Iraq and Iran in an "axis of evil" after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, accusing them of state-sponsored terrorism and of seeking weapons of mass destruction. North Korea has also been accused of money-laundering, counterfeiting U.S. currency and manufacturing narcotics.

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.

Japan has expressed concern about the United States removing North Korea from the terrorist list before the issue of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korean agents is addressed, but officials have recently indicated they now support the moves.

North Korea admitted in 2002 that its agents had kidnapped 13 Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s, five of whom have since been repatriated to Japan.

Rice said that Washington, a close ally of Japan, was determined to see progress on accounting for the abductees.

"We will continue to press on issues like the abduction issue, which is of great concern not just to Japan but to the United States as well," she said.

"It's a major human rights issue. We are encouraging the DPRK (North Korea) and Japan to continue their discussions but there needs to be real movement on that issue as well."