U.S. removes N. Korea from terrorist list: State Dept

(ATTN: UPDATES with more details, background throughout)
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Oct. 11 (Yonhap) -- The United States removed North Korea from its
terrorism blacklist Saturday, signaling a major breakthrough in the stalled
six-party talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear programs.
"The Secretary of State has rescinded the designation of the DPRK as a State
Sponsor of Terrorism, effective immediately," State Department spokesman Sean
McCormack said at a special news conference, using North Korea's official name,
the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
The decision to delist North Korea came as Pyongyang agreed to verification
procedures involving its uranium-based nuclear program and nuclear proliferation
as well as its plutonium-producing facilities, the spokesman said
"The Democratic People's Republic of Korea has agreed to a series of verification
measures that represents significant cooperation concerning the verification of
North Korea's denuclearization actions," he said.
The spokesman said North Korea has also "stated it will resume disablement of its
nuclear facilities."
North Korea had in recent weeks taken steps to restart nuclear facilities that
were disabled under an aid-for-denuclearization deal, as the communist state
denounced the U.S. for failing to lift it from a U.S. terrorism blacklist.
Washington had said it would not delist the North unless it agreed to a complete
verification regime under which international monitors are allowed unfettered
access to suspected North Korean nuclear facilities.
The Bush administration was supposed to delist on Aug. 11, 45 days after the
president notified Congress in late June of his intention to do so. But the
process hit a snag with Pyongyang's earlier rejection of a verification protocol.
North Korea was put on the U.S. State Department's list of state sponsors of
terrorism soon after several North Korean agents bombed a South Korean passenger
jet over Myanmar, killing all 115 passengers on board, in November 1987.
Bush's notification to Congress was made soon after North Korea presented a
declaration of its nuclear programs and inventory and blasted a cooling tower in
a major breakthrough in the sluggish multilateral nuclear talks that began in
2003.
Pyongyang has been adamant that it will not agree to Washington's demand for
unlimited access to its nuclear facilities, which it said would be a violation of
its sovereignty.
Saturday's announcement comes following a flurry of diplomatic efforts in recent
days in which Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke by telephone with
counterparts from South Korea, Japan, China and Russia -- the partners of the
six-party nuclear talks.
Chief U.S. nuclear envoy Christopher Hill visited Pyongyang for three days last
week. Following his return reports surfaced that he had made a proposal in which
Washington would first verify the North's plutonium-producing facilities, leaving
the more sensitive issues of uranium-based nuclear program and nuclear
proliferation for a later date.
Without elaborating on the sequencing of the verification process, McCormack said
North Korea had allowed nuclear experts from the U.S. and other parties to the
nuclear talks to verify alleged nuclear proliferation and suspected uranium-based
nuclear program.
"The United States will continue to work toward the verifiable end to all North
Korean nuclear programs and activities," he said. "We will not stop until this
work is done."
McCormack was apparently addressing allegations that the Bush administration is
taking a softer line on the North's denuclearization in its waning months. Bush's
term expires in January.
Hardliners have criticized Bush since June for trying to take the North off the
terror list without a solid denuclearization commitment from Pyongyang, saying
Bush was trying to make the North Korean nuclear issue a major foreign policy
achievement amid failures in Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan.
McCormack said North Korea still "remains subject to numerous sanctions resulting
from its 2006 nuclear test, its proliferation activities, its human rights
violations, and its status as a communist state."
Experts say the delisting is symbolic rather than substantial, as Pyongyang has a
long way to go before getting aid from the International Monetary Fund or other
lending agencies where the U.S. is the largest stakeholder.
Japan has been reluctant to agree to the delisting. The spokesman urged Pyongyang
to address its neighbor's concerns "without further delay."
"The United States wholeheartedly supports Japan's position on the abduction
issue," he said. "We have not forgotten and will never forget the suffering of
the abductees and their families."
Japan maintains the North has not yet provided adequate explanation as to the
scores of Japanese citizens who were kidnapped decades ago by North Korea to
train spies in Japanese language and customs.
U.S. President George W. Bush called Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso Saturday
morning, White House deputy spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in a statement.
"President Bush told Prime Minister Aso that the U.S. will never forget the
abduction of Japanese citizens by the North Koreans," Johndroe said. "We will
continue to strongly support Japan's position on the abduction issue and will
urge North Korea to take immediate steps to implement the commitments it made
this summer as part the agreement reached with Japan."
North Korea agreed in a meeting with Japan held months earlier that it will
address Japan's claims that North Korea still has at least several more Japanese
abductees aside from several the North had sent back to Japan years ago. No
concrete progress has been made since then.