(3rd LD) 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"The Secretary of State has rescinded the designation of the DPRK as a State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. Other
countries on the terror blacklist are Cuba, Iran, Syria and Sudan.
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 -- partners in 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 its 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.
U.S. Republican presidential nominee, John McCain, said he would not support the
delisting "unless the United States is able to fully verify the nuclear
declaration Pyongyang submitted on June 26."
"It is not clear that the latest verification arrangement will enable us to do
so," McCain said in a statement.
Richard Bush, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said through an e-mail
that he had "no illusions that there will be no future impasses in the future as
the condition of mutual consent for verification visits and sampling virtually
guarantees that there will be more disagreements."
He was referring to a loophole in the agreement announced by McCormack, whereby
experts from six-party countries will have "access to all declared facilities
and, based on mutual consent, to undeclared sites."
The implication is that inspectors will only be guaranteed access to declared
facilities, with future access to undeclared sites dependent on Pyongyang's
consent.
U.S. and South Korean officials insist North Korea will be put back on the terror
list if the verification process falters due to Pyongyang's reluctance to allow
access to all its nuclear facilities.
U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama issued a statement welcoming
the delisting as a "modest step forward" in dismantling North Korea's nuclear
weapons programs.
"President Bush's decision to remove North Korea from the list of state sponsors
of terrorism is an appropriate response, as long as there is a clear
understanding that if North Korea fails to follow through there will be immediate
consequences," the Illinois senator said.
In an apparent move to placate hardliners opposed to the decision, McCormack said
North Korea "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 more of a symbolic gesture, as Pyongyang still 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, meanwhile, has been reluctant to agree to the delisting, citing concerns
over scores of Japanese citizens kidnapped by Pyongyang decades ago to be trained
as spies. Tokyo claims North Korea has yet to explain its actions.
McCormack urged Pyongyang to address its neighbor's concerns "without further
delay." U.S. President George W. Bush also 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 months ago in a meeting with Japan to address claims it is
still holding several Japanese abductees apart from those it sent back to Japan
years ago. No concrete progress has since been made on the issue.