North Korea Submits Nuclear Declaration

North Korea has taken a key step forward in multinational negotiationsto get rid of its nuclear weapons, and is being rewarded by the UnitedStates. Pyongyang has submitted an inventory of nuclear programs andmaterials to China, the host of the long-running talks. VOA's KurtAchin reports from Seoul.

South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan confirmed the long-awaited nuclear declaration was in China's hands.

He says North Korea submitted the declaration in Beijing, and that South Korea welcomes the development.

U.S.President George Bush responded quickly to the North's move, clearingthe way for some U.S. sanctions on Pyongyang to be lifted.

"I amissuing a proclamation that lifts the provisions of the Trading Withthe Enemy Act with respect to North Korea," he said. "And secondly, Iam notifying Congress of my intent to rescind North Korea's designationas a state sponsor of terror in 45 days."

Those U.S. steps put Pyongyang on the road to eligibility for international trade and assistance opportunities.

NorthKorea's declaration is part of a multi-stage process that exchangesfinancial and diplomatic incentives for gradual steps by North Koreatoward disarmament. North Korea promised to submit it by the end oflast year, but delayed producing it for six months over a disagreementwith the United States.

Washington at first demanded thedeclaration account for an alleged secret uranium program the North hasnever publicly admitted having, and explain Pyongyang's possible rolein helping Syria develop a nuclear facility.

Following highlevel U.S.-North Korea meetings, Pyongyang is expected to"acknowledge U.S. concerns" about those items, but not to include themin the formal declaration. The document is expected to list NorthKorea's stockpiles of nuclear material as well as its facilities forproducing that material.

How many actual nuclear weapons NorthKorea has, and where they are, is to be declared later, aftermultinational talks on the North's weapons are reconvened in Beijing,which is expected in the coming weeks. They will also focus on how bestto verify the North's declaration is accurate.

President Bush said the North still has much to do.

"Itmust dismantle all of its nuclear facilities, give up its separatedplutonium, resolve outstanding questions on its highly enriched uraniumand proliferation activities and end these activities in a way that wecan fully verify," he said.

A Seoul-based analyst for theInternational Crisis Group, Daniel Pinkston, says, years of work lieahead for negotiators. But he says the United States is getting a "goodbargain" so far.

"The actions that the U.S. is taking - liftingthe sanctions, de-listing them [North Korea] from the StateDepartment's terrorism list - these are easily reversible ... yes,there is some food assistance, there is some energy assistance, but itis really peanuts when you look at the security benefits here," he said.

ConservativeSouth Korean President Lee Myung-bak has held back on food aid for theimpoverished North until it makes progress on the nuclear issue.Thursday's declaration could be a cue for the Lee administration toresume food and other assistance badly needed in North Korea.