Lifting U.S. sanctions on N Korea "minor": White House

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Sanctions lifted by the United States on North Korea were relatively minor and mostly affected those trying to import goods from North Korea and conducting financial transactions, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday.

"I will tell you and the North Koreans understand that the degree of easing of sanctions is relatively minor," U.S. President George W. Bush's national security adviser Stephen Hadley told reporters. "North Korea remains one of the most sanctioned regimes."

(Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky, editing by David Storey)