The North has long wanted to be removed from the terror list

The foreign ministry statement, carried by the state news agency, follows a meeting in Geneva this weekend between nuclear envoys from both nations.

Washington said the talks resulted in a pledge by the North to disable its nuclear facilities.

Analysts had predicted the North could soon be removed from the list, but the US has so far made no mention of it.

North Korea has long wanted to be taken off the list to improve its standing internationally.

'Clear willingness'

A spokesman for the North Korean foreign ministry said the move was agreed to during the weekend's bilateral talks.

NUCLEAR TIMELINE 2007 Feb: N Korea agrees to shut down its nuclear programme in return for energy aid and other benefits April: Deadline to "shut down and seal" Yongbyon reactor missed June: Row over N Korean funds frozen in Macau bank resolved July: N Korea shuts down and seals Yongbyon reactor in first phase of deal Sept: N Korea agrees to declare and disable its nuclear facilities by the end of the year

Q&A: N Korea stand-off Timeline: Nuclear crisis

"The US agreed to take political and economic compensation measures such as deleting our country from the list of terror supporting nations and fully lifting sanctions imposed under the law on trading with enemy countries," he was quoted by the KCNA news agency as saying.

Washington's chief negotiator Christopher Hill said on Sunday that Pyongyang had agreed to declare and disable all its nuclear facilities by the end of this year.

His comment was backed up by his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye-gwan, who said: "We showed clear willingness to declare and dismantle all nuclear facilities".

The full details of the agreement are expected to be discussed when the six nations involved in the nuclear negotiations meet in China later this month.

But Mr Hill has so far made no mention of Washington considering taking North Korea off its list of countries it believes support terrorism.