The comments come after work started Monday to disable three main atomic plants at the Yongbyon complex under the supervision of US experts.

"What was agreed at six-party talks is that the US would remove the DPRK (North Korea) from the list of terrorism-sponsoring states and end its application of the Trading with the Enemy Act in return for the DPRK's disablement of nuclear facilities by the end of this year," the Chosun Shinbo said.

"On the part of North Korea, there is no reason to delay its action."

The newspaper, published in Japan, is seen as a mouthpiece of the communist regime in Pyongyang.

The designation as a state sponsor of terrorism prevents the impoverished and isolated communist state from receiving US economic assistance and blocks loans from the World Bank and other multilateral organisations.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday that the North was cooperating well with the US experts in the disablement process. "So far, so good, I would say," she told reporters.

The North's action disable its atomic programme after half a century of research and development follows a February six-nation accord under which it will receive major aid and diplomatic benefits for full denuclearisation.

The North shut down its reactor at Yongbyon in July. Disablement, scheduled for completion by year-end, aims to make it and other facilities unusable for at least a year while talks on total denuclearisation continue.

The South Korean Yonhap news agency reported this week that the US has given the North "concrete terms" for its removal from the list.

It said the North must undertake 11 specific disablement measures and also clarify the status of a highly enriched uranium programme "based on more convincing evidence."

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