A U.S. daily says that President George W. Bush agreed to remove North Korea from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism in October based only on spoken assurances from Pyongyang that it had agreed to a nuclear verification plan.

In the latest round of the six-way nuclear talks, North Korea balked at agreeing to a written plan for the verification of its nuclear claims.

The Washington Post said that U.S. officials acknowledge now that most of the purported agreements announced two months ago were simply oral understandings between nuclear envoy Christopher Hill and his North Korean counterparts.

Before Bush announced he was taking North Korea off the terrorism list, the Post said that Hill submitted a memorandum to North Korea's mission to the United Nations outlining the envoy's understanding of the oral agreements. The Post cited officials as saying that North Korea did not object to Hill's summary, but they would not commit to it in writing.

The article quoted one expert as predicting that North Korea will hold on to this card for future negotiations with the next U.S. administration.