U.S. to take North Korea off terror list

By Matt Spetalnick

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday welcomed a long-delayed North Korean account of its shadowy nuclear activities and said it would act to remove North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism.

President George W. Bush planned to make a public statement at the White House at 7:40 EDT (12:40 p.m. British time) on Thursday.

North Korea handed over to China on Thursday a declaration of its nuclear activities as it had agreed in six-party talks. It also agreed to destroy a cooling tower at its Yongbyon reactor on Friday.

"North Korea has pledged to disable all its nuclear facilities and tomorrow will destroy the cooling tower of the Yongbyon reactor," a White House statement said.

The White House said the United States would respond by lifting sanctions on North Korea under the "Trading with the Enemy Act" and would also begin steps to remove Pyongyang from the U.S. blacklist of countries it considers sponsors of terrorism.

"The United States welcomes the North Korean declaration of its nuclear programs. Today's development is an important step in the multi-step process laid out in the six-party talks between North Korea, China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States," the White House said.

"The six-party talks are based on a principle of 'action for action'," it added.

The White House said the information provided by Pyongyang would be "be essential to verifying that North Korea is ending all of its nuclear programs and activities."