The United States has agreed in the talks with North Korea to take the pariah state off the State Department's list of "terrorist" countries, according to a spokesman for the North Korean foreign ministry, and also to provide political and economic "compensation" in the form of removal of sanctions. Analysts cite the quid pro quo inherent in an understanding that US chief negotiator Christopher Hill says calls for North Korea to "provide a full declaration of all their nuclear programs" and "disable" them by the end of this year. "North Korea has been saying they are ready to dismantle their nuclear facilities if the US removes North Korea from the list of terrorist countries and the ban imposed under the trading-with-the-enemy act," says Kim Sung Han, professor of international relations at Korea University in Seoul, South Korea. "North Korea says it suffers because of the US trade embargo, and if the US lifts the sanctions, North Korea will get out of its suffering." It would take an act of Congress to de-list North Korea from the US terrorist list, but President Bush could act to erase the "terrorist" label by reporting to Congress that North Korea had not been involved in terrorist activities for the past six months. That decision, while anticipated, is certain to provoke controversy since North Korea has never acknowledged the act that got it on the list in the first place – the bombing of a Korean Air 707 plane in November 1987.

Do you think the United States is making the correct move in removing North Korea from the list of states who sponsor terrorism in return for a complete dismantling of their nuclear facilities?

Donald Kirk, Christian Science Monitor
Do you think the United States is making the correct move in removing North Korea from the list of states who sponsor terrorism in return for a complete dismantling of their nuclear facilities?