In what is seen as a rare admission that it used to have such ties in the first place, the Sudanese government on Wednesday announced that it has cut all defence ties with North Korea.

The announcement came as Washington remains locked in a standoff with Pyongyang over her missile and nuclear weapons programmes, and as Sudan, which is still on the United States list of state sponsors of terrorism, reels from an economic crisis.

“Sudan’s government would like to affirm that its defence production sector has cancelled all contracts with North Korea, and ended all relations, direct or through a third party,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Although it did not say when the ties were severed or provide details of what the ties had been, the statement said the decision was part of its commitment to the international Non-Proliferation Treaty and sanctions against Pyongyang

The United States lifted 20 years of sanctions on Sudan in October, in a move that looked set to help Sudan’s ailing economy, but the country has since plunged into a fiscal crisis.

Washington said then that Sudan had made progress fighting terrorism, and that it had secured Khartoum’s commitment not to pursue arms deals with North Korea.

Sudan however remains on the US list of state sponsors of terrorism – alongside Syria and Iran – which means a ban on weapons sales and restrictions on American aid.