The United States has not yet decided to take the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) off terror list, the State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said yesterday.

"We are where we were yesterday and the week before and the month before on that issue," McCormack told reporters, insisting that Pyongyang must agree to a feasible plan to verify its disarmament before Washington strikes Pyongyang from the list.

"On this question of the terrorism list, we are fully prepared to meet our obligations as North Korea meets its obligations. And, again, the enabling condition here is agreement on a verification protocol," said McCormack when he was asked whether the United States would remove the DPRK from the terror list.

The spokesman attached importance to the six-party talks that involve the United States, the DPRK, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had telephone discussions Friday on the DPRK with her counterparts of Japan, China and South Korea, according to the spokesman.

McCormack made the remarks amid reports that the United States will soon strike the DPRK from terrorism blacklist.

"The Bush administration appears poised to provisionally remove North Korea from the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism, perhaps as soon as today," the Washington Post quoted unidentified sources as reporting Friday.

The sources said they had been told the delisting would take place as soon as Friday, based on Pyongyang's willingness to show cooperation on the verification plan.

The DPRK blew up on June 27 the cooling tower of its atomic reactor to demonstrate its commitment to nuclear disarmament, a day after handing over details of its atomic programs.

Under the 2007 pact, the DPRK pledged to disable its nuclear program in a step toward its eventual dismantlement in exchange for diplomatic concessions and energy aid. But the accord has been stalled due to disputes over the verification of a nuclear declaration between the DPRK and the United States.

The DPRK stopped disabling its nuclear facilities in August in retaliation for Washington's failure to remove the country from its list of terrorism sponsors.