A technical team will arrive in North Korea on Nov. 1 and start disabling North Korea’s nuclear facilities, chief U.S. nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill told reporters Friday. it was the first time Hill has given a specific date for the start of the process.

A day earlier, deputy State Department spokesman Tom Casey said the technical team during its latest visit had substantial dialogue with North Korean officials. He quoted Sung Kim, the head of the US State Department's Korea desk who has been to North Korea, as saying, "Work to actually start the process of disablement could begin somewhere in the next three weeks or so. So we look forward to that happening."

Meanwhile, Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi will discuss on Thursday with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte the issue of striking North Korea from the U.S. list of states sponsoring terrorism, the Asahi Shimbun daily reported. The newspaper added the issue will be a key item on the agenda of a meeting between U.S. President George W. Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who arrives in Washington on Nov. 16.

But a senior U.S. official said Washington and Pyongyang can start discussing the matter before the latter completes the disablement of its nuclear facilities, but it will take a considerable amount of time to actually remove North Korea from the list."

(englishnews@chosun.com )