NKorea issues statement opposing terrorism
Updated
North Korea has issued a statement stressing its opposition to all forms of terrorism, describing such attacks as a threat to human life and international stability.
The foreign ministry statement also vows to combat the proliferation of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.
Correspondents say the statement appears to pave the way for North Korea's removal from an American government list of state sponsors of terrorism.
Washington is expected to start the delisting process when the North hands over a list of all its nuclear activities, as part of a six-nation deal to shut down Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program
The North was put on the US list in 1988 after its agents were found to have bombed a South Korean airliner the previous year, killing all 115 people on board.
The US State Department says the North is not known to have sponsored any terrorist acts since that bombing.
The designation prevents North Korea from receiving US economic assistance and blocks loans from the World Bank and other multilateral organisations.
Under a six-nation agreement reached in February 2007, the US pledged to remove the North from the terrorism list and to terminate the application of the Trading with the Enemy Act in return for denuclearisation.
The State Department says Pyongyang has completed eight out of 11 activities to "disable" its nuclear plants - make them unusable for at least a year.
But disputes over the declaration have blocked the start of the last phase - the permanent dismantling of the plants and the handover of all nuclear material.
