U.S. President George W. Bush said Thursday that the United States welcomes the nuclear declaration of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and will respond by lifting key trade sanctions on the country and removing the DPRK from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.

"Today is a positive day, it's a positive step forward. There's more work to be done and we've got the process in place to get it done in a verifiable way," Bush said to the media in the White House Rose Garden.

"Our ultimate goal remains clear: a stable and peaceful Korean Peninsula, where people are free from oppression, free from hunger and disease, and free from nuclear weapons. The journey toward that goal remains long, but today we have taken an important step in the right direction," Bush said.

Bush said the United States will intend to lift sanctions on the DPRK under the "Trading with the Enemy Act" and said he intends to notify the Congress to remove the DPRK from the list of state sponsors of terrorism in 45 days.

Bush also welcomed plans by the DPRK to blow up the cooling tower at the Yongbyon nuclear complex.

However, Bush said the lifting of key sanctions and removing the DPRK from the terror list "will have little impact on North Korea's financial and diplomatic isolation." "North Korea will remain one of the most heavily sanctioned nations in the world," he said.

Bush also insisted that the United States "has no illusions about the regime in Pyongyang," and urged the DPRK to disclose all its nuclear programs and activities.

"It must dismantle all of its nuclear facilities, give up its separate plutonium, resolve outstanding questions on its highly enriched uranium and proliferation activities, and end these activities in a way that we can fully verify," Bush said.

Therefore, the submission of its nuclear declaration by the DPRK is just the beginning but not the end, Bush said.

"This isn't the end of the process, this is the beginning of the process," Bush said.

Bush made the statement after the DPRK handed over its nuclear declaration to China earlier Thursday.

The White House has issued a statement welcoming the DPRK nuclear declaration.

"The United States welcomes the North Korean declaration of its nuclear programs. Today's development is an important step in the multi-step process laid out in the Six Party Talks between North Korea, China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States," the statement said.

According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the DPRK ambassador to China Choe Jin Su submitted the declaration to Wu Dawei, China's top negotiator on the Korean Peninsular nuclear issue.

Under an agreement reached at the six-party talks in Beijing in October last year, the DPRK agreed to abandon all nuclear weapons and programs and declare all its nuclear programs and facilities by the end of 2007, in exchange for diplomatic and economic incentives.

However, the DPRK missed the deadline despite reported progress in its nuclear disablement and declaration.

The United States has urged the DPRK to fully declare its nuclear programs and activities.