Seoul: South Korea said a US decision to take North Korea off its terrorism blacklist put the communist state s nuclear disarmament back on track, but a Japanese minister called the move "extremely regrettable."

Seoul s top nuclear envoy Kim Sook said he now expects six-party talks to resume "as early as possible" to finalise procedures on verifying disarmament, although a date has not been confirmed with talks host China.

The United States announced yesterday that it had removed North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism after reaching an agreement on how to verify its nuclear programme.

The row over verification and delisting had left a hard-won 2007 accord on disarmament close to collapse, with the North which tested a nuclear device for the first time in October 2006 threatening to restart a facility which produced weapons-grade plutonium.

"The government appreciates that the measure will contribute to putting six-party talks back on track, a move that will eventually lead to North Korea s nuclear abandonment," Kim told reporters.

The talks group the two Koreas with the United States, Russia, China and Japan.

The United States insisted it needed agreement on verification before it delisted North Korea, a move which clears the way for some bilateral economic aid and possible assistance from the World Bank and other multilateral bodies.

Japan had urged Washington not to delist North Korea, pressing first for more information on the fate of Japanese kidnapped by the North in the 1970s and 1980s to train its spies.
Source : PTI