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The United States is preparing to provide heavy fuel oil to North Korea as it moves to denuclearize, a move which is likely to provide a substantial impetus towards trust-building between the two states.

Sean McCormack, the department spokesman, said the government has notified Congress that progress in talks meant to rid North Korea of nuclear weapons may lead to the U.S. spending $25 million for a shipment of fuel oil to the North.

"What it does is, it prepares us in the case we do need to fulfill some commitments" on the part of the U.S.," he said, noting that the notification to Congress of such intent was "done with an eye towards" North Korea fulfilling its commitments. The US legislature has to be informed of any Washington aid to North Korea, which is currently under sanctions.

Six-party talks are to resume this month, negotiations crucial to meeting their goal of denuclearizing the communist country.

Pyongyang implemented the first phase by shutting down its key atomic facilities, and it is required in the second phase to come clean with all of its nuclear programs and disable the nuclear facilities.

South and North Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan are members of the six-party talks that in February struck an agreement to eventually dismantle Pyongyang's nuclear weapons and programs. The communist state would in return receive political and economic benefits, including diplomatic normalization with Washington and Tokyo.

One of the economic incentives is 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil to be provided by the five parties. South Korea already delivered 50,000 tons as North Korea shut down its primary nuclear facilities, fulfilling the first phase of the denuclearization deal.

After a bilateral nuclear deal in 1994 between Pyongyang and Washington, the U.S. had annually shipped 500,000 tons of heavy fuel oil to the North as energy assistance. The shipment was stopped after the U.S. in 2002 accused North Korea of cheating by running a secret uranium-based weapons program.

Despite the recent measures, North Korea and the U.S. have a long way to go to achieve the normalization of their diplomatic ties.

Pyongyang has long demanded that it be removed from the list, and it has recently become a major issue as North Korea and the U.S. continue talks on improving relations.

Normalization of diplomatic ties with the U.S. would mean getting international recognition of its regime and opening windows of opportunity politically and economically.

For Washington, it means establishing peace in one of the most volatile parts of the world where confrontations and arms buildups often emerge and destabilize a region where China poses future security questions.

Eventual diplomatic normalization is one of the incentives Washington offered as part of denuclearization efforts under the six-party talks. The U.S. has consistently linked the North's removal from the terrorism list to progress in denuclearization.

Pyongyang's long-time demands have been formally put on the table. The U.S. is to look at how to remove the North from the State Department list of states sponsoring terrorism and review the application of the Trading with the Enemy Act that restricts any meaningful trade and other economic exchanges between the two countries.

But because of the close association between denuclearization and diplomatic normalization, it is too early to talk about success.

"I can't predict when the last piece of fissile material will be taken out of North Korea," Christopher Hill, the U.S. chief nuclear envoy, said in March after wrapping up bilateral talks with North Korean officials. "It's too early to do victory laps."

North Korea and the U.S. fought each other in the 1950-1953 Korean War, which has yet to officially end as it did not conclude with a peace treaty, but an armistice.

SEOUL, Sept. 14 (Yonhap)