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North Korea off US terror list
03/09/2007 15:08 - (SA)
Seoul - The United States has decided to remove North Korea from a list of terrorism-sponsoring states and lift sanctions against the communist country, a spokesperson for North Korea's Foreign Ministry said on Monday.
Washington's decision to lift sanctions and remove the North from a terrorism list came in a weekend meeting with North Korean representatives in Geneva, the spokesperson said in comments carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. In line with KCNA practice, the spokesperson was not identified.
Nancy Beck, a spokesperson for the US State Department in Washington said she did not have confirmation of the KCNA report.
The move came after North Korea agreed to take "practical measures to neutralise the existing nuclear facilities" this year, the spokesperson said.
US chief nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill said on Sunday in Geneva that North Korea agreed in talks held in the Swiss city to declare and disable its nuclear programmes by the end of this year.
Hill said it was the first time the North has set a timeline for declaring and disabling its nuclear programmes since the February deal in which Pyongyang pledged to shut down its nuclear reactor, disclose its nuclear programmes and disable related facilities in exchange for economic and political concessions.
Besides being subject to economic sanctions, North Korea has also been on a US list of states that sponsor terrorism, effectively blocking the North from being able to obtain low-interest loans from international lending agencies like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
- AP
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