A combination photo shows a cooling tower (R) and the site after it was demolished (L) at a DPRK nuclear plant June 27, 2008.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Friday urged the other parties of the six-party talks to meet their obligations so as to push denuclearization into the next phase.
The talks involving China, the United States, the two Koreas, Japan and Russia on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsular should abide by the principle of "action for action", and whether the other parties of the talks stand by their commitments also needs verification, the official news agency KCNA quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying.
The denuclearization has led to progress by the United States in removing the DPRK from its terrorism and sanctions blacklists, said the spokesman.
But the de-listing has not gone into effect and the United States should lift more sanctions imposed against the DPRK than only those under the Trading with the Enemy Act, he added.
He also complained that the disablement of the nuclear facilities in the DPRK has been more than 80 percent completed, while the economic compensation has been just 40 percent fulfilled.
Under an agreement reached in October, the DPRK should disable its major nuclear facilities at Yongbyon and make an "accurate and complete" declaration on its nuclear activities, in exchange for political and economic interests.
The United States started the process of removing the DPRK from its State Sponsors of Terrorism List and dropped sanctions against it under the Trading with the Enemy Act, after Pyongyang submitted its nuclear declaration and symbolically destroyed a cooling tower at its Yongbyon nuclear facility last week.
(Xinhua News Agency July 5, 2008)
