North Korea presents nuclear report, Bush eases sanctions

The 60-page declaration from North Korea, one of the world’s most isolated and impoverished nations, was expected to describe in previously undisclosed detail its capabilities in nuclear power and nuclear weapons — meeting a major demand of the US and other countries that consider the North a dangerous source of instability.

“This can be a moment of opportunity for North Korea,” said President Bush, announcing the declaration at the White House. “If it continues to make the right choices it can repair its relationship with the international community.”

With issues like Iran and Iraq still unresolved, the Bush administration considers the North Korean declaration a notable diplomatic achievement in the waning months of the current presidency.

Bush said in the principle of “action for action”, the US would lift some restrictions on commercial dealings with North Korea and within 45 days end its designation as a state sponsor of terrorism. “Today we have taken a step toward a nuclear free Korean peninsula,” he said.

China, which has been the host of the six-nation talks on the North’s nuclear programme, said on Thursday that the North was submitting its declaration. The White House confirmed the exchange shortly afterward and said that it would remove North Korea from the terrorism list and thus make it eligible for aid and assistance.

US officials expected that the declaration, which had been due at the end of last year, would provide important details about North Korea’s nuclear programmes, including the amount of plutonium produced at its nuclear reactor in Yongbyon.

But, significantly, the North’s declaration was not expected to reveal details on three critical points—the nuclear bombs the North has already produced, its alleged attempts to produce nuclear arms by secretly enriching uranium, which triggered the ongoing crisis in 2002, and accusations that the North helped Syria build a nuclear plant.

The White House said US officials will verify the declaration over the next 45 days, a process that could eventually remove North Korea from terrorism list, and make it eligible for American aid and for loans from international institutions like the World Bank.

The US said it would lift sanctions imposed on the Korea as part of the World War I era Trading with the Enemy Act, a move that would leave only Cuba on the list.