More to do before blacklist removal, North Korea is told

US PRESIDENT George Bush warned today that North Korea had much to do before America could remove it from its terrorism blacklist.

Pyongyang expects Mr Bush to remove it from the US list of terror-sponsoring countries as soon as next weekend, as promised when the North blew up its nuclear reactor cooling tower in June.

But Mr Bush, speaking at a news conference in Seoul with South Korean president Lee Myung-bak, said North Korea must first agree to international terms for verifying its efforts to dismantle.

"I don't know whether or not they're going to give up their weapons," Mr Bush said. "I really don't know. I don't think either of us knows."

Mr Lee called North Korea "a very difficult opponent".

But, he added: "I will be patient and I will be consistent. I have faith we will be able to move to the verification process."

Mr Bush once branded North Korea as part of an "axis of evil" and spoke derisively of leader Kim Jong Il.