North Korea to give nuclear report this week: Kyodo

TOKYO (Reuters) - North Korea will hand over a long-delayed report of its nuclear activities on June 26 in a step towards disarmament, Kyodo news agency said in a report from Beijing on Monday, citing sources close to six-party talks on the issue.

In response, the United States will begin the process of removing Pyongyang from a list of nations Washington sees as sponsors of terrorism, the report said, a move that would ease trade sanctions.

Last week, the U.S. envoy to six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons, Christopher Hill, expressed hope that Pyongyang would turn in the documents soon, paving the way for a resumption of stalled disarmament talks.

North Korea shocked the world by testing a nuclear device in October 2006.

The six-party process, involving China, South Korea, Russia and Japan as well as North Korea and the United States, was set up to negotiate nuclear disarmament in return for improved diplomatic ties and economic aid desperately needed by the impoverished state.

Pyonyang had agreed to produce the report on its nuclear programs by the end of last year.

Japan's Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura had been set to urge U.S Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to be cautious about removing North Korea from the terrorism list at a meeting in Kyoto on June 27, but the process will likely have started by that time, Kyodo said.

Earlier on Monday, Korean media reported that Pyongyang wants to invite five foreign news companies to record the destruction of the cooling tower at its ageing nuclear complex in a show of its will to abide by the disarmament deal.

Korean officials said the event would take place at the North's Yongbyon nuclear complex, about 100 km (60 miles) north of Pyongyang.

(Reporting by Isabel Reynolds; Editing by Ben Tan)