( AP ) - North Korea will provide a complete list of its nuclear programs and disable its facilities at its main reactor complex by Dec. 31, actions which will be overseen by a U.S.-led team, according to a statement released Wednesday by the six nations involved in disarmament talks.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei said as part of the agreement, Washington will lead an expert group to Pyongyang "within the next two weeks to prepare for disablement" and will fund those initial activities.
"The disablement of the five megawatt experimental reactor at Yongbyon, the reprocessing plant at Yongbyon and the nuclear fuel rod fabrication facility at Yongbyon will be completed by 31 December 2007," said Wu, who read the statement to reporters but did not take any questions.
The complex at Yongbyon has been at the center of North Korea's nuclear weapons programs for decades and is believed to have produced the nuclear device Pyongyang detonated a year ago to prove its long-suspected nuclear capability.
Since then, Pyongyang rejoined the six-nation disarmament negotiations that involve the United States, China, Japan, Russia and South Korea as well as North Korea. Under a broad agreement reached in February, North Korea pledged to disable its nuclear programs in return for 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil or other assistance.
Wednesday's statement outlines the next steps in the February deal. Though negotiators tentatively agreed on the statement Sunday after four days of talks, it was forwarded to their capitals for approval, leading to a delay in its public release.
The statement also said that the United States and North Korea will "increase bilateral exchanges and enhance mutual trust" but did not set a specific timetable for when Washington will remove Pyongyang from a list of countries that sponsor terrorism - a key North Korean demand. Arrangements will be made in future meetings between the two on normalizing their relations, the statement said.
In addition the statement reiterated the five other countries' commitment to deliver the fuel oil and other energy and economic assistance as spelled out in the February deal.