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North Korea Wants Nuclear Negotiating Partners to Speed Aid


North Korea says it will not take part in any further negotiations about its nuclear activities until the other five nations involved in the talks fulfill their obligations under a deal reached last year.

The isolated regime's Foreign Ministry issued a statement Friday saying it had lived up to its end of the bargain by releasing a long-awaited declaration of its nuclear program.

Pyongyang followed up the release by demolishing the cooling tower at its Yongbyong nuclear complex in front of foreign television news cameras.

North Korea agreed to issue the declaration in an agreement with China, Russia, Japan, the United States and South Korea. In exchange, the five nations promised to provide the North with energy and financial benefits.

U.S. President George Bush responded to North Korea's declaration by removing Pyongyang from a list of state-sponsors of terrorism, and easing some trade sanctions.

A shipment of 37,000 tons of wheat from the U.S. arrived in North Korea on Sunday - the first installment of some 500,000 tons of food pledged by Washington over the next year.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.

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