Bush hails N Korea talks agreement

US president George Bush today welcomed an agreement to bring North Korea back to six-party arms talks and said the United States will insist the communist regime abandon its nuclear weapons program in a verifiable fashion.

To lure the North back, Washington agreed to discuss financial sanctions the US imposed on North Korea a year ago for its alleged complicity in counterfeiting and money laundering to sell weapons of mass destruction, a top US negotiator said.