 US won't drop DPRK from terror list, Rice says
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-12 08:16 US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Japan that Washington would not remove the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) from a US list of state sponsors of terrorism on the initial deadline, which fell on yesterday, Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said. The White House had made clear that it did not expect a deal with Pyongyang yesterday for presenting a verification plan for its nuclear program, but it had said talks would continue. The delay was likely to be welcome in Japan, where many are concerned that an easing of US sanctions against Pyongyang would lessen Tokyo's chances of settling a feud over its citizens abducted by DPRK agents decades ago. Japanese and DPRK officials yesterday began two days of talks in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang on the abductions, an emotive issue in Japan and a major obstacle to establishing diplomatic ties between Tokyo and Pyongyang. Komura said that Rice had informed him of the delay in the delisting in a telephone conversation. Washington has promised the DPRK it could be removed from a US list of terrorism-sponsoring states as early as Aug 11 if a robust verification plan was in place, but US officials have asserted this was a "minimum timeline" rather than a fixed date. Removal from the terrorism blacklist would see an end to US sanctions that have mostly cut off the DPRK from international banking and would also clear the way for multilateral aid packages. Republic of Korea Foreign Ministry said Seoul had not been notified about delisting. "So once all qualifications are met and a thorough verification done, then the US can at any time delist the DPRK," said spokesman Moon Tae-young. "We hope the DPRK will actively cooperate on a thorough verification so that it could be removed from the list." In late June, the DPRK presented a long-delayed accounting of its nuclear weapons program, kicking off the 45-day process to remove Pyongyang from the terrorism blacklist. The news sparked outrage from relatives of those Japanese snatched away in the 1970s and 1980s and from some politicians, who fear a lessening of US pressure on Pyongyang will lessen chances of resolving the dispute over the abductees. Japan said in early June that it would lift some of its own sanctions, imposed in 2006 after Pyongyang conducted a nuclear test and test-launched ballistic missiles. Agencies (China Daily 08/12/2008 page21) |
