Report: North Korea may go off terror list

WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- The Bush administration may soon remove North Korea from the U.S. terrorism list, sources told The Washington Post.

The administration could act as early as Saturday to provisionally remove North Korea from the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism, the newspaper said Friday, referring to "sources close to the administration."

The objective is said to fan the flickering hopes of talking North Korea into dismantling its nuclear weapons program, the Post report said.

President Bush had promised to drop North Korea from the list in June but nuclear talks broke down on a verification issue.

On Thursday, North Korea barred international inspectors from its Yongbyon nuclear reactor complex.