U.S. calls on N.Korea to come clean on uranium

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea did not answer U.S.suspicions of enriching uranium and proliferating technologywhen it released an inventory of its nuclear plans this week,U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Saturday.

On Thursday, secretive North Korea delivered a long-delayedlist of its nuclear activities, as it was required to do in asix-way disarmament-for-aid deal. The inventory mostly outlinedPyongyang's programme to produce arms-grade plutonium.

"Thus far we don't have the answers we need on either,"Rice said in a joint news conference with South Korean ForeignMinister Yu Myung-hwan.

North Korea has denied U.S. accusations of proliferatingtechnology to the likes of Syria and having a clandestineprogramme to enrich uranium for weapons.

"At end of this, let me just emphasise again, at the end ofthis we have to have the abandonment of all programmes, weaponsand materials," Rice said.

She called on the North to live up to its obligations underthe deal it reached with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea andthe United States.

In a symbolic move to show its commitment to theinternational nuclear deal, North Korea toppled the coolingtower at its plutonium-producing reactor on Friday.

In its first reaction since submitting the declaration,North Korea later on Friday welcomed U.S. moves to drop it froma terrorism blacklist and called on Washington to halt itshostile policy toward it.

Officials involved in the nuclear talks are hoping to soonconvene a new session that will look at verification steps andthe scrapping of the North's nuclear weapons programme inexchange for massive aid and an end to its status as a globalpariah.

Responding to the opening by Pyongyang, the United Statesmoved on Thursday towards taking the North off its list ofstate sponsors of terrorism and issued a proclamation liftingsome sanctions under the Trading with the Enemy Act.

Once it is removed from the list, North Korea, which testeda nuclear device in October 2006, will be able to better tapinto international finance.

Given the small size of North Korea's rickety economy, anyincreases in investment and trade could have major effects,experts said, adding however that increased revenue wouldlikely make its way to Pyongyang's leaders and further solidifytheir rule.

(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell, editing by JonHerskovitz and Sanjeev Miglani)