US 'to lift sanctions' against DPRK
Updated: 2007-09-04 07:10
The United States has decided to remove the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) from a list of terrorism-sponsoring states and lift sanctions against it, a spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry said yesterday.
A US State Department spokeswoman said she did not have confirmation of the report, carried by the DPRK's official news agency.
Washington's decision to lift sanctions and remove Pyongyang from a terrorism list came in a weekend meeting with DPRK representatives in Geneva, the spokesman said in comments carried by the DPRK official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). In line with KCNA practice, the spokesman was not identified.
Nancy Beck, a spokeswoman of the US State Department in Washington said she did not have confirmation of the KCNA report.
The move came after Pyongyang agreed to take "practical measures to neutralize the existing nuclear facilities" this year, the spokesman said.
US chief nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill said on Sunday in Geneva that the DPRK agreed in talks held in the Swiss city to declare and disable its nuclear programs by the end of this year.
Hill said it was the first time the DPRK has set a timeline for declaring and disabling its nuclear programs since the February deal in which Pyongyang pledged to shut down its nuclear reactor, disclose its nuclear programs and disable related facilities in exchange for economic and political concessions.
Kim Kye-gwan, Pyongyang's top nuclear envoy, said separately he had shown willingness to declare and dismantle all nuclear facilities, but he mentioned no dates.
In Geneva, Hill avoided discussing details in response to a question from reporters on the issue of the terrorism list.
"I don't want to get into some of the specific things that we're prepared to do," he said. "Obviously we had a considerable discussion about these, but I need to consult within my government and also among the six parties before I consult with the press on that."
Besides being subject to economic sanctions, Pyongyang has also been on a US list of states that sponsor terrorism, effectively blocking the DPRK from being able to obtain low-interest loans from international lending agencies like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
The DPRK was first put on the list for its alleged involvement in the 1987 bombing of an airliner of the Republic of Korea (ROK) that killed all 115 people aboard.
ROK presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-seon also hailed the Geneva agreement, calling it "a good signal" for a process to bring peace to the divided Koreas.
Cheon also said at a press conference yesterday that he expected the DPRK to honor its commitment to declare and disable its nuclear programs by the end of this year as promised.
The US gesture improves the prospects for the diplomatic normalization between the two sides as well as the next round of nuclear talks involving the two Koreas, the US, China, Russia and Japan, a ROK expert on the DPRK issue said.
The two sides have held a series of bilateral talks aimed at moving toward full diplomatic relations as part of a February disarmament deal.
The nuclear accord also mandates the US to begin the process of delisting the DPRK as a terrorism sponsor and advance the process of terminating the application of the Trading with the Enemy Act with respect with Pyongyang.
ROK Foreign Minister Song Min-soon hailed the meeting in Geneva as "very positive" but issued a note of caution about the prospect of disabling Pyongyang's existing facilities.
"We have to be careful with these new developments but at the same time also make sure that we move forward," Song said.
