WASHINGTON—After months of stalling, North Korea offered a glimpse of its secretive nuclear program Thursday and was promptly rewarded by President Bush with an easing of trade sanctions and a move to take the communist state off the U.S. terrorism blacklist.

Bush, who once famously branded North Korea a part of his “axis of evil,” offered mostly symbolic concessions in exchange for Kim Jong Il’s agreement to hand over a long-awaited accounting of its nuclear bomb-making abilities. Critics said even symbolism was too much give to a regime that can’t be trusted.

Still, Bush called the declaration a positive step.

“I’m under no illusions,” Bush said. “This isn’t the end of the process. This is the beginning of the process of action for action.”

Then he announced he was erasing trade sanctions imposed on North Korea under the Trading With the Enemy Act, and notifying Congress that, in 45 days, the administration intends to take North Korea off the State Department list of nations that sponsor terrorism.

To demonstrate that it is serious about forgoing its nuclear weapons, North Korea planned the televised destruction today of a 65-foot-tall cooling tower at its main nuclear reactor at Yongbyon. Blowing it up has little practical meaning because the reactor has already been nearly disabled.