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TOKYO: The United States has decided to impose three new conditions for removing North Korea from Washington's list of state sponsors of terrorism, a Japanese newspaper reported on Saturday.
The new conditions call on Pyongyang to reveal the amount of plutonium it has extracted, the Yomiuri Shimbun said, quoting unnamed sources close to six-way talks designed to dismantle North Korea's nuclear programme.
The conditions also require North Korea to clarify details of its uranium enrichment programme and the alleged transfer of nuclear technology and materials to other countries such as Syria, the mass circulation daily said.
The new conditions are in addition to the current US requirement that North Korea complete the disablement of its nuclear facilities.
These points should be made clear when North Korea completes the declaration of its nuclear programme by the end of this year, the newspaper quoted its sources as saying.
It added that North Korea had not yet submitted an initial draft declaration of its nuclear programme with one month remaining before the year-end deadline.
The paper said North Korea was not likely to accept the new conditions, and so was unlikely to be removed from the list of state sponsors of terrorism soon.
Christopher Hill, chief US negotiator with North Korea, said on Friday in Seoul he hoped North Korea would be nuclear-free by next year but added that the isolated and impoverished country must give up all its atomic material.
Hill was visiting South Korea for consultations before flying on Monday to North Korea to inspect work under way at its Yongbyon complex to disable three plutonium-producing nuclear plants.
The North staged a nuclear test in October 2006, sparking international concern. But in November it began disabling the three plants under US supervision as part of a six-party pact reached in February.
The North Friday reaffirmed its commitment to disabling the plants by year-end as long as partners also keep their promises.
- AFP/so
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