Geneva, Sept. 2 (Reuters): North Korea agreed in weekend talks with the US to fully account for and disable its nuclear programmes by the end of this year, negotiators said today.

“We had very good, very substantive talks,” US assistant secretary of state Chris Hill told reporters. “One thing that we agreed on is that (North Korea) will provide a full declaration of all of their nuclear programmes and will disable their nuclear programmes by the end of this year, 2007.”

North Korea’s top nuclear envoy said separately his delegation was pleased with the outcome of the talks, held to hasten the end of Pyongyang’s nuclear programme, a target agreed to in principle in 2005 in exchange for diplomatic and economic benefits.

“We agreed about many things,” Kim Kye-gwan, speaking in Korean, told reporters. “We made it clear, we showed clear willingness to declare and dismantle all nuclear facilities.”

Hill said the details of the “very important” agreement would be worked out later this month when six-way negotiations -- which also involve South Korea, China, Russia and Japan -- reconvene with a plenary session hosted by China.

He did not say what the US offered in return for the North Korean pledge.

But he confirmed the delegations did discuss the terms under which Washington would drop North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. Being on that list imposes a ban on arms-related sales and keeps the economically isolated Stalinist state from receiving some US aid.

Kim told journalists that North Korea “will receive political and economic compensation” in relation to its declaration and disablement, but gave no details.

The day before the talks began, Washington announced it would offer a significant food aid package to help Pyongyang recover from August floods that killed at least 600 people.

Progress in the diplomatic drive to make the Korean peninsula nuclear-free has been slow since 2005.