GENEVA – North Korea agreed today to account for and disable all its nuclear programs by the end of the year, the chief American negotiator said – the first time the communist country has offered a timeline to end its secretive atomic program.

The North Korean envoy, in separate comments, told reporters his country was willing “to declare and dismantle” its nuclear program, but mentioned no dates.

Before announcing the timetable, American Assistant Secretary of State Hill said improving relations between the two countries, long estranged, was dependent on a North Korea free of nuclear weapons.

It “is a relationship that we will continue to try to build step by step with the understanding that we’re not going to have a normalized relationship until we have a denuclearized North Korea.”

Hours later, he said he and his North Korean counterpart had agreed that North Korea “will provide a full declaration of all of their nuclear programs and will disable their nuclear programs by the end of this year, 2007.”

Mr. Hill said the declaration will include uranium enrichment programs, which the United States fears could be used to make nuclear weapons. The American envoy, who said it was the first timeline offered by North Korea, said both sides also discussed steps toward North Korea’s removal from the American list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Kim Gye Gwan, the head of the North Korean delegation, told reporters separately, “We made it clear, we showed clear willingness to declare and dismantle all nuclear facilities.” He mentioned no dates.

“We are happy with the way the peace talks went,” Mr. Kim said.

Mr. Hill said he expected the next full session of the six-nation talks – involving Japan, Russia, South Korea and China – would be held in mid-September and that it would produce a “more detailed implementation plan for ‘disablement'” of North Korea’s nuclear facilities.

The meeting in Geneva was part of a flurry of “working group” sessions called for in February’s six-nation accord in which North Korea agreed to disable its plutonium-producing nuclear reactor and declare and eventually dismantle all its nuclear activities.

In exchange, the economically struggling North will receive oil and other aid. America., as part of the agreement, promised to begin the process of removing the country from the terrorism list and work toward full diplomatic relations.

North Korea has already received 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil from Seoul in return for the shutdown of its plutonium reactor in July. The energy-starved country will eventually get further energy or other aid equivalent to 950,000 tons of heavy fuel oil in return for irreversibly disabling the reactor and ending all its nuclear programs, but has yet to set a date by when it will disable its nuclear facilities.

Another point of disagreement has been over allegations that North Korea has a second, undeclared nuclear weapons program using enriched uranium. North Korea said recently it was willing to discuss the issue, although it did not acknowledge having such a program.

Years of tension and deadlock over North Korea’s nuclear program – which peaked with the country’s nuclear test last October – have started to ease in recent months as the talks have made progress.

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Associated Press writers Erica Bulman and Alexander G. Higgins contributed to this report.