GENEVA () -- U.S. and North Korean experts have concluded a joint statement on Pyongyang's nuclear program and are awaiting approval of it by their respective capitals, a North Korean diplomat said Friday.


The diplomat said the text dealt with establishing normal relations between Pyongyang and Washington in return for North Korea freezing its nuclear program, which the West suspects of being used to develop weapons.


But the diplomat would not say whether the agreement dealt with the fate of 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods removed from a reactor at Yongbyon in May, which Washington want sent abroad for reprocessing.