The United States has reiterated that it hopes North Korea will complete within the year its second phase measures toward nuclear dismantlement under a February nuclear agreement.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in a news briefing Wednesday that Washington hopes for the North’s full declaration of its nuclear programs, including the uranium-related ones, as well as the disabling of its reactors by the end of the year.

He added that if such steps are achieved, it would be significant.

McCormack said that Pyongyang has a lot to gain and also a lot to lose depending on whether it decides to give up its nuclear weapons programs. He added that the U.S. will gain a sense of whether or not the North has reached a fundamental strategic decision on its nuclear programs from the six-way nuclear talks currently under way in Beijing.

The spokesman also forecast that a foreign ministerial meeting of the six involved parties will open around next month or in September in line with progress made on implementing the February nuclear accord.