The United States has agreed to lift sanctions against North Korea and remove it from its list of states that sponsor terrorism, the foreign ministry in Pyongyang announced on Monday.

If confirmed, the move would represent the biggest step towards peace on the divided peninsular since the Korean War armistice in 1953. Less than a year after North Korea tested its first nuclear bomb, the two cold war enemies said they had made substantial progress during bilateral talks in Geneva at the weekend.

In a statement, the North Korean Foreign Ministry confirmed US reports that it had agreed on measures to neutralise Pyongyang’s existing nuclear facilities within the year.