US agrees to nuclear deal with North Korea

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The United States has approved a tentative deal with North Korea that would require Pyongyang to disable its nuclear reactor and detail all aspects of its nuclear work, the US State Department said Tuesday.

The deal was reached during six-nation talks over the weekend in Beijing. After two days of breaks in the talks for the countries to brief leaders on the deal back home, the United States has informed China it has accepted the arrangement.

"We studied it, talked about it, examined it, gave our approval to the Chinese," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

North Korea had to shut down the reactor at Yongbyon based on the February 13 agreement. But the six nations involved - China, Japan, Russia, the United States and two Koreas - must still negotiate finalizing and implementing the agreement.

McCormack did not offer specifics about the deal, saying a statement will be issued in the days ahead from the Chinese government. However, North Korea was to receive energy aid and eventually the normalization of relations for the first time in more than five decades.

The United States will also remove North Korea from the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism.

North Korea admitted in 2002 that it had resumed its nuclear programme in violation of a 1994 agreement with Washington and detonated a nuclear bomb in October 2006, prompting swift but limited UN Security Council sanctions.

The six-nation talks resumed at the end of 2006 and a deal was reached in February. dpa mm aw