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The United States has made it clear it will reserve its decision whether to remove North Korea from its list of terrorist countries until it is satisfied that it fully understands North Korea¡¯s nuclear programs.
In a recent interview with the Weekly Standard, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was asked whether it is possible for North Korea to be struck off the list even if it does not explicitly admit nuclear cooperation with Syria. Rice said, ¡°What we're doing is we want to look at -- take a look at the totality of the nuclear (question). So, I'm not going to make any judgments until we ¡¦ know where we are on these issues.¡±
Rice stressed there are other ways to put sanctions on North Korea if necessary, even if it is struck from the list and the Trading With the Enemy Act, and added the U.S. does not blindly trust the North Korean regime just because it is minded to strike it from the list. ¡°I think there¡¯s some ¡¦ misunderstanding,¡± she said. ¡°Nobody believes that this is a regime that you can believe. Let me just start by saying I have not lost my understanding of the North Korean regime.¡±
On the same day, Stephen Hadley, President Bush's national security adviser, reiterated the U.S. wants ¡°a Korean Peninsula that is, once again, free of nuclear weapons." He called for responsible action from North Korea, saying Pyongyang ¡°must fulfill its other obligations -- including a full declaration of its nuclear programs that is complete, correct and verifiable, dismantlement of its plutonium production infrastructure, (and) abandonment of any alternate route for producing nuclear weapons material.¡±
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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