Washington, D.C. ? The Bush administration is making the last preparations for what it hopes will be a fresh start in troubled disarmament talks with North Korea, with an official saying Friday that the reclusive regime appears ready to provide overdue details about its nuclear past.

North Korea has indicated it is extremely close to producing a promised technical accounting of its shuttered nuclear program, a senior U.S. official said.

The documentation has emerged as a major marker of progress, or the lack of it, in talks with the North. Skeptics say the accounting is nearly six months late and may be a fraud if it ever comes.