N Korea responds to Bush's ultimatum

The response was verbal this time and has arrived on Friday. The details of the message coming from Pyongyang weren’t released yet, but the general idea was that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea intends to meet the deadline which was set for December 2007 and expects the United States to hold to their end of the deal, senior State Department officials said.

US president had sent a similar message to his counterparts from Russia, China, Japan and South Korea. These are the other countries involved in the discussion regarding the North Korean nuclear disarmament, White House National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

According to presidential spokesman Dana Perino, President Bush had sent the letters because the deadline - Dec. 31- by which Pyongyang must provide information on its program and proliferation activity, is nearing.

The letter that Bush sent in early December was handed by U.S. envoy Chris Hill to North Korea's Foreign Minister on Wednesday, according to the North Korean news agency KCNA.

The first letter has showed not only that the patience of the U.S. is running out, but, more important, it has showed the openness for communication with the inaccessible communist state. Until a few months ago the contact between the top officials of the two countries was inexistent. President Bush had previously labeled Kim Jung Il as a "tyrant" and put North Korea in what he then called the "axis of evil."

Although North Korea must make available information regarding its nuclear present and past, chief U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill said that there is divergence over final document and what it should contain. He added that the disablement is going according to plan.