US Removes North Korea From Terror Blacklist

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 10:23:02 +0000
AHN Staff

Seoul, South Korea (AHN) - The United States has decided to remove North Korea from its blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism and President Bush is likely to announce the news later Saturday, according to senior US officials.

The measure will be taken in order to salvage and resume six-party talks were related to nuclear disarmament agreement, according to the officials.

The move comes after several assurances given by Kim Jong Il's government to check on its nuclear facilities and to verify its nuclear program activities.

President Bush has reportedly signed off on the plant yesterday in the hope of salvaging nuclear disarmament deal with the North and to reduce the gap between the two countries.

Early this week North Korea had reportedly told International Atomic Energy Agency that it was planning to remove weapons inspector from the country, according to US officials.

Washington expects North Korea to submit and verify the list of steps to China under the disarmament process and to stop any nuclear program activities as well as missile tests.

"We've agreed to a series of verification measures [on North Korea's nuclear program], and flowing from that we can now remove North Korea from the list of state sponsors of terror," an administration official was quoted saying by AFP news agency.

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