WASHINGTON - WORLD powers and North Korea have agreed to steps to verify North Korea's disarmament that include the plutonium programme but also any uranium and proliferation activities, a senior US official said.

US negotiator Christopher Hill, representing the powers in the negotiations, reached the deal during an October 1-3 visit to Pyongyang, as a prelude to a formal verification protocol to be announced in the 'near future,' he said.

The team led by Mr Hill agreed with the North Koreans that the verification steps will 'apply to the plutonium-based programme and any uranium enrichment and proliferation activities', the official said on the condition of anonymity.

Mr Hill and his counterparts also agreed that experts from all six parties - the two Koreas, China, the United States, Japan and Russia - 'may participate in verification activities, including experts from non-nuclear states,' he said.

They also agreed that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) 'will have an important consultative and support role in verification' the official added.

Under the deal, 'experts will have access to all declared facilities and, based on mutual consent, to undeclared sites,' he said.

There was also 'agreement on the use of scientific procedures, including sampling and forensic activities', according to the official who later released the details in a statement to journalists covering the State Department.

The statement said agreement on 'these verification measures has been codified in a joint document between the United States and North Korea and certain other understandings, and has been reaffirmed through intensive consultations'.

It added that 'the agreement and associated understandings have been conveyed to the other parties' in the six-party process.

'These measures will serve as the baseline for a Verification Protocol to be finalised and adopted by the Six Parties in the near future,' it added. -- AFP