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The U.S. in a closed-doors deal on Oct. 3 agreed to strike North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism and suspend the Trading with the Enemy Act by year's end provided North Korea disables its nuclear facilities by then, a senior South Korean official says.
The official told Korean reporters in Washington last week the Oct. 3 deal ¡°includes a list of facilities North Korea agreed to disable. It also includes what the other five nations agreed to do, including the issues of striking North Korea from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism and suspending the application of the Trading with the Enemy Act.¡± These measures ¡°are supposed to be completed by the end of this year."
¡ßInternational acceptance?
That would create a favorable atmosphere for North Korea¡¯s acceptance into the international community, to say nothing of Pyongyang-Washington relations. North Korea was designated as a state sponsor of terrorism in 1988, in the aftermath of the bombing of a Korean Air passenger plane in 1987. In 2002, U.S. President George W. Bush famously singled out the North as part of an "axis of evil."
Once struck from that list, North Korea can be also be taken off the various blacklists of international financial organizations including the IMF. Embargoes on exports of dual-use technology to North Korea will also likely be removed, which could include state-of-the-art computers or chemicals.
And once the Trading with the Enemy Act, which has included North Korea since 1950, no longer applies, North Korea will be able to get its U.S. assets unfrozen and do business with U.S. banks. When the Korean War broke out, the U.S. Treasury imposed a total ban on trading and financial transactions with North Korea. North Korea¡¯s assets in the U.S. are estimated at about US$14 million.
¡ß N.Korea to benefit early next year
But whether the U.S. will lift both restrictions depends on the progress of North Korea's disablement of its nuclear facilities. Some U.S. officials predict North may prove tardy given that it has never kept any of its promises within the agreed timelines.
The senior South Korean official said delays are therefore possible. But it will probably be only a matter of time, since North Korea has already started disabling nuclear facilities including its main 5-MW atomic reactor at Yongbyon.
In a declaration as long ago as Oct. 6, 2000, North Korea promised to end support for terrorism. It will therefore crate no big problem for North Korean authorities to reaffirm the principle. By law, the U.S. administration has to submit to Congress a letter of certification 45 days before North Korea is removed from the list to prove that the communist country has changed. Some officials say this procedure can be omitted.
Japan still opposes the U.S. the move as long as the matter of Japanese abduction victims remains unresolved. But that should provide no major hurdle seeing as Washington is determined to rack up a diplomatic achievement in denuclearizing North Korea.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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