The United States will very much soon remove the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) from its terrorism blacklist, the Washington Post reported Friday.

"The Bush administration appears poised to provisionally remove North Korea (the DPRK) from the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism, perhaps as soon as today," the newspaper quoted sources close to the administration as reporting.

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

The move would keep alive a faltering effort to eliminate Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program, the report said without giving details.

"This is an action-for-action process," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said of the settlement of nuclear issues on the Korean peninsula Thursday. "As North Korea meets its obligations, we are fully prepared to meet our obligations."

U.S. President George W. Bush promised to delist the DPRK in June but never took action.

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 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.