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On the day the United States and North Korea sealed a landmark deal at six-party talks on a "grand bargain" intended to lead to the dismantling of Pyongyang's nuclear programme, the chief American negotiator was asked whether North Korea was being removed from President George W. Bush's terror list.
The envoy, Christopher Hill, replied: "I'm just a simple diplomat. I'm just trying to deal with a problem here." But yesterday, following talks in Geneva stemming from the February 13 disarmament deal, North Korea claimed the decision to remove it from the American blacklist had indeed been taken at the talks over the weekend between a North Korean delegation and a team led by Hill.
In a statement, the North Korean Government announced that Washington had decided to remove the isolated hardline communist state from its list of states accused of sponsoring terror, and lift sanctions against Pyongyang.
Any such move would signal further significant progress in carrying out the terms of the February 13 agreement that provides for North Korea to shut down its nuclear programmes in exchange for diplomatic recognition, oil and other aid. Hill said that the North Koreans had, for the first time, set a timetable for declaring and shutting down its nuclear programme.
He added that both sides had held a "discussion" on the issue of removing North Korea from the terror list, where it has been since 1988 after the sabotage of a South Korean airliner that exploded in midair, killing 115 people.
But he said the North Koreans still have work to do before the United States is ready to take the country off the terror list.
"We have had some very good discussions on those issues, and we certainly believe we have a basis for continuing to go forward," Hill said when asked if the US and North Korea "share the same idea" on what's needed to remove Pyongyang from the list.
"Their getting off that list will depend on further denuclearisation," he told reporters as he arrived in Sydney yesterday for the Apec summit.
Washington has refused to remove North Korea from the blacklist over Pyongyang's continued refusal to hand over Japanese Red Army militants who hijacked a Japan Airlines jet during an internal South Korean flight in 1970, and were granted political asylum by the North.
If North Korea were to be dropped from the list, it would enable the impoverished state to have access to low-interest loans from international lending organisations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Any de-listing could lead to the full opening of relations and a possible visit by the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice.
- Independent
