North Korea still holds plutonium card - analysts

UPDATE 1-North Korea says to suspend nuclear disablement

N.Korea says to suspend nuclear disablement

South Korea eyes giving aid to North via UN agency

UPDATE 1-South Korea, U.S. start military drills

South Korea, U.S. start military drills, irking North

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged North Korea to accept terms to verify the dismantling of its nuclear weapons program, as the two countries ended a four-year hiatus in cabinet-level talks on Wednesday.

It may have rattled windows and raised dust, but the blast that toppled a towering symbol of North Korea's atom-bomb project was a mere blip on a world map where more and more states may "go nuclear" — or nearly so — in the years to come.

President Bush said Thursday he will lift key trade sanctions against North Korea and remove it from the U.S. terrorism blacklist, a remarkable turnaround in policy toward the communist regime he once branded as part of an "axis of evil."

North Korea is widely expected to hand China a long-delayed account of its shadowy nuclear activities on Thursday, a key step that could see it removed from Washington's list of terrorist states as well as win it diplomatic recognition and desperately needed fuel.