North Korea may resume nuclear disabling work Sunday after terror delisting: South Korea

Kim Sook, South Korea's chief envoy to international nuclear talks with North Korea, told reporters in the capital Pyongyang informed the U.S. it would "immediately return to disabling work" at its Yongbyon nuclear facility, in tandem with the U.S. announcement Saturday in Washington.

He said the work could start as early as Sunday.

North Korea halted the disablement in mid-August in anger at the U.S. over what it called a delay in the terror delisting and began moves aimed at potentially restarting the plutonium-producing facility north of Pyongyang.

Christopher Hill, Washington's top nuclear envoy for North Korea, visited the country earlier this month to try and resolve the impasse and salvage a six-nation denuclearization agreement.

The U.S. had balked at the terrorism delisting because it said North Korea had to first allow verification of its nuclear disablement, part of the international agreement involving the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.

The U.S. State Department said Saturday that North Korea agreed to all U.S. nuclear inspection demands and the Bush administration was responding by removing the communist country from a terrorism blacklist. Cuba, Iran, Syria and Sudan remain on the list and are subject to sanctions.

North Korea will allow atomic experts to take samples and conduct forensic tests at all of its declared nuclear facilities and undeclared sites on mutual consent, and will permit experts to verify that it has told the truth about transfers of nuclear technology and an alleged uranium program, the U.S. said.

"A key point is that North Korea should cooperate in verification procedures with sincerity," Kim said.

South Korea welcomed the U.S. decision and the North's corresponding moves to resume disablement, Kim said. The development would put the six-party talks back on track and lead to North Korea giving up its nuclear programs, he said.

The nuclear talks _ which last convened in July - would resume soon to finalize details of the international inspections, said Kim.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted U.S. State Department official Sung Kim as saying the discussions could take place this month.

North Korea's state news agency was silent Sunday on the U.S. announcement.

China, the host of the six-party talks and a key player in the process, had no comment on the delisting, the Foreign Ministry said Sunday.

The row over the delisting and verification came amid questions about the health of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, who reportedly suffered a stroke underwent brain surgery.

On Saturday, the North's state media released pictures of him for the first time in nearly two months, which showed him looking generally well. It was unclear when the photos were taken.

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