U.S. Removes North Korea from Terror List

Decision made after North Korea agrees to allow nuke inspections

Video

North Korea off U.S. terrorism list (NBC Nightly News, Oct. 11, 2008) — After agreeing to all U.S. nuclear inspection demands, the Bush administration removed the communist country from a terrorism blacklist. NBC’s Lester Holt reports. (00:23)

October 11, 2008

WASHINGTON — After North Korea relented on nuclear inspection demands, the U.S. on Saturday erased from a terrorism blacklist the communist country President Bush once branded part of an “axis of evil.”

The U.S. step, assailed by some conservatives who say it is sketchy and rewards North Korea’s bad behavior, is aimed at salvaging a faltering disarmament accord before Bush leaves office in January.

State Department officials said the inspection agreement and the decision to take North Korea off the state sponsors of terrorism list were in the interests of national security and consistent with the “action for action” principle of the negotiations. …

The terrorism designation — now shared only by Cuba, Iran, Syria and Sudan — carries severe penalties. But U.S. officials said North Korea would not see any immediate benefit because it is punished under other programs and could return to the list if it does not comply with the inspections. …

‘A serious challenge’

The North will permit experts to verify that it has told the truth about transfers of nuclear technology and an alleged uranium program. Officials said North Korea has agreed to immediately resume disabling its main plutonium facility. Since August, the North had reversed that process, heightening tensions.

The blacklist decision had been in the works since chief U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill returned from a trip to North Korea late last week. On his visit, he proposed a face-saving compromise under which the North would accept the verification plan after the delisting was announced. …

Critics: Reward for bad behavior

Republican presidential candidate John McCain said he would not support the step unless it is clear North Korea will accept intrusive inspections of its nuclear sites. In addition, he said he was worried that U.S. allies in Asia, particularly Japan, had not been properly consulted.

Democratic rival Barack Obama expressed similar concerns but called the removal of North Korea from the terrorism list “an appropriate response, as long as there is a clear understanding that if North Korea fails to follow through there will be immediate consequences.” …

Full story

———

IRAQ UPDATE

A man runs after a car bomb blast in Abu Dshir in Baghdad, Iraq, Oct. 10, 2008. The blast killed 13 people and wounded at least 27. (Photo credit: Loay Hameed / AP)

Security Developments in Iraq

Following are security developments in Iraq on Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008 as reported by Reuters.

AMARA – A U.S. soldier was killed on Saturday in a roadside bomb attack south of Amara, some 185 miles southeast of Baghdad, the U.S. military said in a statement.

KIRKUK – Sheikh Azad Khorsheed, deputy head of the Sunni endowment office in Kirkuk, was wounded in a bomb explosion, police said. The bomb had been attached to his car in the city of Kirkuk, 155 miles north of Baghdad.

Medics tend to Sunni imam Sheik Azad Khurshid at a hospital in Kirkuk, Iraq, on Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008. He was injured when a “sticky bomb” planted underneath his car exploded, police said. (Photo credit: Emad Matti / AP)

MOSUL – Gunmen attacked an off-duty policeman in central Mosul, 240 miles north of Baghdad, wounding the policeman and killing a bystander. Another person was wounded, police said.

SAMARRA – Iraqi security forces killed two gunmen in a raid in al-Jillam, near Samarra, 62 miles north of Baghdad, police said.

MOSUL – Yahya Mahjoub, a member of the Nineveh provincial council, was uninjured in a roadside bomb attack in northern Mosul, police said. Iraqi police killed one suspect in the attack.

HILLA -Gunmen shot a police officer at a checkpoint south of Hilla, some 60 miles south of Baghdad, police said.

BALAD – Iraqi security forces killed three suspected insurgents and detained 13 others in northern Iraq between Oct. 7 and Oct. 9, the U.S. military said in a statement.

BAGHDAD – U.S. soldiers captured five suspected insurgents in southern Baghdad on Friday, the U.S. military said in a statement.