Friday, February 5, 2010

Obama says U.S. not to designate N. Korea terrorism sponsor

The United States has concluded that North Korea does not meet the criteria to again be designated as a state sponsor of terrorism based on its examination of the North's conduct, President Barack Obama said Wednesday.

Japan had previously hinted that it expected the United States to put North Korea back on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, but a senior Foreign Ministry official said in Tokyo on Thursday that the matter is for the U.S. government to decide.

"The Japanese government will refrain from making any comments on the decision," State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Koichi Takemasa told a regular press conference.

He also noted, "The U.S. government basically sees the designation of a state sponsor of terrorism as a symbolic thing and it continues to impose tough sanctions on North Korea."

In a letter addressed to congressional leaders, Obama said that the North does not meet the criteria to be designated once again in terms of its actions from June 2008 to November 2009.

The decision comes after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a television interview in June last year that the United States was considering placing North Korea on its list of state sponsors of terrorism in response to Pyongyang's nuclear test in May.

The United States announced in June 2008 that it would remove North Korea from the blacklist as part of efforts to move forward the six- party talks aimed at disbanding the North's nuclear arsenal. The North was removed from the list in October the same year.

Takemasa said that Japan will continue to cooperate with the United States in dealing with North Korea and in realizing the resumption of the stalled multilateral talks that also involve South Korea, China and Russia.

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