The United States is ready to drop North Korea from a terrorism blacklist, the Associated Press has learned, in the latest attempt by the administration to salvage a nuclear deal with Pyongyang before President Bush's term ends.

The act of striking North Korea from the list of countries said to be perpetrating terrorists acts could come as early as Saturday, now that Bush has approved it, say diplomats briefed on the initiatives pressing the North to abandon its atomic weapons program.

The removal would be only provisional, officials said, and North Korea would be put back on the State Department's "state sponsors of terrorism" list if it doesn't comply with inspections of its nuclear facilities. The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because the administration has not yet announced the step.

The expected delisting comes as North Korea moves to restart a disabled nuclear reactor and takes other provocative actions, including expelling U.N. inspectors and test firing missiles. These steps in recent weeks have heightened tensions between Washington and Pyongyang and threatened a shaky disarmament agreement.

It also follows days of intense internal debate in Washington and consultations with U.S. negotiating partners China, South Korea, Russia and Japan. Tokyo had balked at the move because the North has not yet resolved issues related to its abduction of Japanese citizens.

Neither the White House nor the State Department would comment on the decision, which has been in the works since chief U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill returned from a trip to North Korea late last week.

But earlier Friday, U.S. officials said they were trying to build a consensus among negotiating partners on the step as well as the inspection regime that Washington insists must accompany the delisting.

"We're continuing to work with our six-party partners," White House press secretary Dana Perino said, referring to China, Japan, Russia and South Korea, which along with the United States and North Korea make up the group of countries working on the deal.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke on Friday with the foreign ministers of China, South Korea and Japan and was trying to reach her Russian counterpart, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

"The point where we're at now is making sure everybody agrees," he said.

At issue was whether tentative arrangements worked out last week between Hill and the North Koreans were acceptable to the others. Under those terms, the U.S. would provisionally remove North Korea from the terror list once the North agrees to the inspections.

McCormack dismissed suggestions the United States was trying to force an agreement on its partners and declined to say which, if any, countries were preventing a consensus.

However, Japan had been resistant, arguing that North Korea should not be taken off the list until the cases of Japanese citizens abducted by Pyongyang in the 1970s and '80s are resolved.

North Korea was among a group of nations - Bush called them the "axis of evil" - that the United States singled out for condemnation early in the president's first term. His current term ends next Jan. 20, when a successor will be inaugurated.

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