Bush welcomes North Korea nuclear move

U.S. President George W. Bush, who once branded North Korea part of an "axis of evil," welcomed moves Thursday to remove itself from a U.S. list of states that sponsor terrorism.

North Korea Thursday handed over its long-awaited nuclear program declaration to officials from China, which led the six-nation talks that hammered out the conditions of the agreement.

The declaration is expected to contain details on North Korea's plutonium stockpile. North Korea will also continue preparations to publicly dismantle a controversial nuclear reactor -- key steps meant to ease international fears about nuclear activities in the Communist nation.

Bush said he will call for the lifting of sanctions against North Korea and move to take it off the terror list. But, he added, North Korea will have to end its nuclear activities in a "verifiable" way."The United States has no illusions about the regime in Pyongyang," Bush told reporters. "Yet we welcome today's development as one step of a multi-step process. … If North Korea continues to make the right choices, it can repair its relationship with the international community," he added.

Watch a report on the step toward curbing N. Korea's nuclear activities »

[CNN]