US removes North Korea from terrorism blacklist

The United States yesterday removed North Korea from its terrorism blacklist amid faltering denuclearisation talks in the final months of the Bush administration.

The decision was made after North Korea agreed to a series of verification measures of its nuclear facilities, said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

"The Secretary of Sate has rescinded the designation of the DPRK as a State Sponsor of Terrorism," McCormack told a news conference.

North Korea would also resume disablement of its nuclear facilities as part of the deal, he said. The United States and North Korea have agreed that experts would have access to all declared nuclear sites and that the United Nations would play an important role in verifying Pyongyang's atomic activities, McCormack said.

The two countries agreed last week on the verification measures, which were needed before North Korea could be removed from the list of countries that the United States believes sponsor terrorism.

But McCormack and others made clear that North Korea would still be subject to numerous sanctions as a result of its 2006 nuclear test and that there was still a long way to go.

North Korea tested a nuclear device in 2006 using plutonium and it is suspected of pursuing a uranium enrichment programme, which would provide a second path to make fissile material for nuclear weapons.

The decision to take North Korea off the blacklist, which will be unpopular with some conservative Republicans who see the US as giving in to North Korea, follows days of deliberations inside the administration after a visit by US envoy Chris Hill to Pyongyang last week.

The US' drive to revive a deal came as secretive and impoverished North Korea had stepped up efforts to rebuild its nuclear facility at Yongbyon and banned UN monitors from the Soviet-era plant - moves Washington say will now be reversed.

Under a broad accord struck in 2005 between North Korea, South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States, Pyongyang agreed to abandon all nuclear programmes in exchange for potential economic and diplomatic benefits.

Under a subsequent pact, the US suggested it would remove North Korea from the terrorism list in exchange for Pyongyang providing a "complete and correct" declaration of all of its nuclear programmes.

That deal had become snagged by North Korea's reluctance to accept a mechanism allowing the United States or other members of the talks to verify its declaration.

Taking Pyongyang off the list had also been held up by Tokyo's objections until the issue of the abduction of Japanese nationals decades ago by North Korean agents is settled.

President George W. Bush spoke to Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso on Saturday and Bush also reaffirmed support for Japan on the abduction of its citizens by North Korea, said White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe.