U.S. President George W. Bush in a statement after the nuclear inventory was submitted, said, “We welcome today's development as one step in the multi-step process laid out by the six-party talks.” Bush said he is issuing a proclamation that lifts the provisions of the Trading with the Enemy Act for North Korea, and is notifying Congress of his intent to strike North Korea from a list of state sponsors of terror in 45 days.

But he added, “This isn't the end of the process. It is the beginning of the process." "If North Korea makes the wrong choices, the United States and our partners in the six-party talks will respond accordingly. If they do not fully disclose and end their plutonium, their enrichment, and their proliferation efforts and activities, there will be further consequences."

A senior South Korean government official said Choe Jin-su, North Korea’s ambassador to China, submitted the 60-page inventory to Beijing’s chief negotiator in six-party talks on the issue Wu Dawei at around 6:30 p.m. Korean time. North Korea was supposed to submit the inventory by the end of last year required under an Oct. 3 agreement with the United States. But differences in opinion between Washington and Pyongyang over the communist country’s alleged uranium enrichment program and controversy over its alleged aid to Syria’s nuclear program led to a six-month delay.

People watch a television broadcasting U.S. President George W. Bush's statement on North Korea's nuclear program at the Seoul Railway Station on Thursday. /AP

After the North blows up the cooling tower at its Yongbyon plant on Friday in the presence of U.S. government officials, including Sung Kim, the State Department's director of Korean affairs, the countries in the six-party talks will soon resume discussions, looking at methods of verifying the nuclear inventory before moving to the third phase of nuclear dismantlement.

North Korea lists nuclear facilities, amount and usage of extracted plutonium and its uranium stockpile. It apparently reports the amount of plutonium used to conduct nuclear tests and produce weapons, allowing officials to roughly deduce the number of nuclear weapons the North has. It reportedly declares 35 kg of plutonium, rather less than the U.S. estimate of 45-60 kg, a matter that will require clarification. Also, there is criticism that the inventory is half-complete, since nuclear weapons have been excluded.

However, North Korea’s submission of its nuclear program on Thursday and Washington's step to removing it from the list of terror sponsors mark the end of the second phase -- the disablement and declaration stage -- and entry into the third phase or complete dismantlement of its nuclear program.

The plutonium inventory is in effect North Korea’s first official admission of its past and present nuclear capability. A senior South Korean government official said North Korea’s admission is not 100 percent satisfactory, but should be viewed positively since it provides basic information necessary for dismantlement. But there are those who remain skeptical about the efficacy of an inventory that omits the uranium program and transfer of nuclear know-how while the question of Japanese citizens abducted by the North and other sensitive issues remain unresolved.

The problem is that North Korea is unlikely to allow inspectors access to all of its nuclear facilities, which is essential for a complete verification and examination of documents. Moreover, the prevailing view is that it will be almost impossible to verify suspicions over North Korea’s uranium enrichment program and alleged aid to Syria’s nuclear program, which were to be addressed only by indirect acknowledgement from Pyongyang.

Even if full-fledged dismantlement gets under way, larger obstacles remain. One government official said, technical issues aside nuclear dismantlement is more difficult, since it depends on the will of the North Korean regime. It will not be easy for the regime to give up its nuclear program, since it is not just a weapon for the communist country, but a prop for the regime.

Another obstacle to progress in U.S.-North Korean relations is the fact that Pyongyang told Jack Pritchard, a former top U.S. negotiator, and other visiting American officials this year that complete dismantlement will involve only the Yongbyon facility.

In a speech to the Heritage Foundation on June 18, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said, “We must keep the broader goal in mind: the elimination of North Korea's nuclear weapons and programs -- all of them. North Korea has said that it is committed to this goal... if they have no intention to do that, then we will not move forward in phase three.” President Bush also said in the statement on Thursday his government “has no illusions about the regime in Pyongyang.”

(englishnews@chosun.com )