US Reviews Excluding North Korea from Terrorist List
It is reported that Washington is likely to exclude North Korea from its terrorist list. It designated North Korea as a terrorist nation 18 years ago. AP quoted South Korea’s top nuclear envoy to the six-party talks, “Washington offered to remove Pyongyang from the terrorist list if North Korea dismantles its nuclear weapon facilities.”
He also explained, “The proposal is one of the incentives that Washington laid out to Pyongyang. At the six-party talks last week in Beijing, the US suggested other incentives including diplomatic normalization of relations with Pyongyang, a peace treaty, and security guarantees."
Based on the source, it seems that the US has a strong intent to execute three-phase measures, if North Korea gives up its nuclear program. It has reported that US top nuclear envoy Christopher Hill made the offer at the six-party talks in Beijing last week.
The first phase is to remove North Korea from the terrorist list, the second is to open a US office in Pyongyang, and the third is to propel normalization diplomatic relations.
Analysts say that the plan for the US to remove North Korea from the list is a very meaningful sign from the Bush administration. Harrion from the Center for International Policy forecast at the Peace Forum for the Korean Peninsula at New York University, “It is very possible that the US can partially defreeze its financial sanctions on the North and remove the communist regime from the terrorist list.”
The US designated North Korea as a terrorism supporting nation in January 1988 after a Korean Airline plane was bombed by Kim Hyun-hee in 1987.
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 / 입력시간: 2006. 12.29. 08:46
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