For the first time, North Korea has given a timeline in which it will dismantle its nuclear program, the chief U.S. negotiator said Sunday.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said the communist country had agreed to not only declare its nuclear plan but dismantle its atomic program by the end of the year.
A North Korean envoy confirmed the country's plan to reporters but didn't mention any dates.
"We made it clear, we showed clear willingness to declare and dismantle all nuclear facilities," Kim Gye Gwan, the head of the North Korean delegation, told reporters.
The agreement came during discussions at a meeting between the two diplomats in Geneva. Just hours before, Hill publicly said relations between the two countries would remain estranged until North Korea "denuclearized."
It "is a relationship that we will continue to try to build step by step with the understanding that we're not going to have a normalized relationship until we have a denuclearized North Korea," he said.
The agreement includes uranium enrichment programs, which the U.S. fears could be used to develop nuclear weapons.
Talks between the two countries also lead to discussions on removing North Korea from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism and developing full diplomatic relations between the tewo nations.
As part of the agreement, North Korea is also set to receive oil and other assistance. After shutting down its plutonium reactor in July, the country received 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil from South Korea.
North Korea is also set to receive the equivalent to 860,000 tons of heavy fuel oil for permanently disabling its reactor and putting an end to its nuclear ambitions.
Hill said North Korea should have a "more detailed implementation plan" by the next full session of the six-nation talks. The talks are scheduled for mid-September and will involve Japan, Russia, South Korea and China.
Tensions between the U.S. and North Korea have already begun to ease as talks have made progress in the past year. Tensions were especially high last October when North Korea decided to run nuclear tests.
With files from The Associated Press
