SEOUL - South Korea on Sunday hailed the US removal of North Korea from a terrorist blacklist as key to putting six-party talks on disarming the communist state back on track.

"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," Seoul's top nuclear envoy Kim Sook told reporters.

The United States announced Saturday it had removed North Korea from its terrorism list, after reaching an agreement on nuclear verification measures, removing a major stumbling block on an aid-for-disarmament deal.

Kim said he expected six-party talks will now resume "as early as possible" to finalise the nuclear verification protocol, although a date had not been confirmed with hosts China.

Angry at Washington's refusal to delist it, Pyongyang in the last few weeks vowed to restart its Yongbyon nuclear reactor that it shut down under the landmark disarmament deal in 2007 and has taken tangible steps toward doing so.

But the way now appeared clear for North Korea to revive the disarmament process. The six-party talks involve the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and China. - AFP/vm