The Sudanese government has said it is prepared to cut ties with North Korea in order to improve its relationship with Washington, the country’s foreign minister told a U.S. diplomat on Thursday.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, currently on a state visit to the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, told reporters that the country had taken “positive” steps towards removing its own listing as a state sponsor of terror.

“We are also committed to having no trade or military relations with North Korea and hope that the Korean peninsula remains free of nuclear weapons,”  Sudanese foreign minister Ibrahim Ghandour