US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill (R) and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) (2nd R) are met by reporters after Hill gave a closed-door briefing on the Six-Party Talks on North Korea to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the Capitol in Washington, Dec. 12, 2007. - Xinhua/Reuters

The United States said yesterday that it hopes the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) will keep its promise and disclose all its nuclear activities by the end of this year.

"We are hopeful that we will have the complete declaration provided by around the year end," US Assistant Secretary of State Chris Hill said.

The DPRK is making progress in disabling its nuclear facility, Hill said.

US President George W. Bush, in a letter to DPRK leader Kim Jong-Il last week, called on the DPRK to disclose all its nuclear activities. The United States has insisted that the DPRK has not so far explained the status of its nuclear program to US satisfaction.

This was the first time for Bush to directly communicate with the DPRK since he took office.

It is widely regarded that the letter marked an apparent shift of attitude by Bush toward the DPRK, a country once he branded as one of the "axis of evil."

The six-party talks held in Beijing in February reached a nuclear deal, in which the DPRK agreed to disable its nuclear reactor and declare all nuclear programs and facilities by the end of this year to pave the way for dismantlement next year.