BEIJING, Oct 13, 2008 (AFP) - China on Monday welcomed Washington's removal of North Korea from its terror blacklist and Pyongyang's agreement to resume disabling its nuclear facilities, calling their efforts 'constructive'.

'China appreciates the constructive efforts made by the concerned parties,' foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in China's first reaction to the weekend developments in efforts to halt the North's nuclear drive.

'Promoting the six-party talks process serves the common interests of the involved parties, which is also a shared aspiration of the international community,' he said in a short statement issued on the ministry's website.

The State Department announced Saturday the United States had taken North Korea off its list of state sponsors of terrorism, saying an agreement had been reached on steps to verify Pyongyang's nuclear disarmament.

The move prompted North Korea on Sunday to announce that it would resume disabling its nuclear plants as part of the ongoing six-party talks that also include China, South Korea, Japan and Russia.

'China will continue to strengthen its communication and coordination with the relevant parties to push forward the talks,' Qin said of the drawn-out process that began in 2003.

Angry at Washington's refusal to remove it from the terror list, Pyongyang had in recent weeks vowed to restart a nuclear reprocessing plat at its Yongbyon complex, which it shut down under a landmark six-party deal in 2007.

The accord had been stalled over disagreements on how to verify a North Korean declaration of all of its nuclear activities that was handed over earlier this year as part of the six-party process.

Signatories to the six-party deal must also complete delivery of energy aid worth hundreds of millions of dollars which was promised to Pyongyang in return for the disabling.

The complete dismantling of all of North Korea's nuclear programmes could eventually lead to the normalisation of relations between the Stalinist nation and the United States, Japan and possibly even South Korea.