A key government official on Thursday said the North and the U.S. reached the agreement after finally seeing eye to eye on a verification protocol for the declaration of nuclear facilities and stockpiles it submitted earlier. It came in a meeting between chief U.S. nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill and North Korean government officials during Hill’s visit to Pyongyang last week. The U.S. is likely to announce the agreement officially as soon as President George W. Bush approves it.

As a result, the official said the six-nation talks on the nuclear issue, which had been in limbo since July, will probably resume this month. He added both sides will very likely implement the agreement within this month, too.

Japan’s Kyodo news agency on Thursday reported the U.S. informed Japan of its plan to strike the Stalinist country from the list of terrorism sponsoring states in the middle of this month if it reaches agreement on a verification protocol can be reached.

The official declined to give details of the verification protocol but added, “Each side made some concessions and the procedures include all essentials for verification.” However, the agreement does not include some key issues observers had speculated might be on the agenda, such as mutual nuclear inspections in both North and South Korea, a high-level military meeting between the U.S. and the North, and a peace agreement.

(englishnews@chosun.com )