Obama Keeps North Korea Off U.s. List Of Terrorism Sponsors
North Korea “does not meet the statutory criteria” for inclusion on the list, that automatically imposes sanctions, Obama wrote in a letter to congressional leaders yesterday.
Former President George W. Bush removed North Korea in 2008 after the communist state agreed to inspections of sites suspected of being part of the regimes nuclear program. It had been designated as a state sponsor of terrorism since 1988.
Last June, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the administration was considering re-designating North Korea after it conducted nuclear and missile tests earlier in the year.
Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria are classified as state sponsors of terrorism, according to the State Department.
The U.S., Japan, China, Russia and South Korea have been attempting to get North Korea to resume negotiations aimed at dismantling its nuclear program. The communist country quit the forum last April and said it wont return until United Nations sanctions imposed after its nuclear tests are lifted.
North Korea was placed on the U.S. terrorism list after its agents were implicated in the 1987 bombing of a South Korean passenger plane that killed all 155 people on board. U.S. sanctions resulting from the designation included curbs on aid and a ban on sales of weapons.