U.S. Considering Restoring N. Korea to Terror List - NYTimes.com

U.S. Considering Restoring N. Korea to Terror List - NYTimes.com

Will it really matter when Obama makes sure that Hamas has front row seats to his speeches? or when Known home grown terrorists like the Black Panthers are allowed to walk away from trial by the Justice Department because they served Obama's purpose?
Maybe this is like giving them a pat on the back and a welcome to team Obama?



WASHINGTON — Concerned by North Korean behavior that she called “very provocative and belligerent,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in an interview aired Sunday that the United States was considering putting North Korea back on its list of state sponsors of terrorism, a clear signal that any slim hopes once held for improved relations had been dashed.

“We’re going to look at it,” Mrs. Clinton said in an interview recorded earlier for the ABC News program “This Week” when asked about returning Pyongyang to the list.

She suggested that international concern over North Korea had clearly sharpened following its recent nuclear and missile tests. She said that both China and Russia, which had balked earlier, seemed more ready now to increase pressure on North Korea. A strong sanctions resolution against the North would most likely emerge from the U.N. Security Council, backed by both countries, she said.

“What is going somewhere is additional sanctions in the United Nations — arms embargo, other measures taken against North Korea with the full support of China and Russia,” she said. “We think we’re going to come out of this with very strong resolution, with teeth, that will have consequences for the North Korean regime.”

Mrs. Clinton said that the Obama administration was still evaluating reports that the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Il, had designated his youngest son, Kim Jong-un, as his successor.

And as the administration presses Pyongyang to release two young Americans being held as spies, she said it remained unclear who in North Korea would decide their fate. That uncertainty reflects the opaque nature of the Pyongyang government, particularly as the end of Kim Jong-il’s rule appears to be moving closer.

Regarding the terrorism list, Mrs. Clinton suggested that such an action would not be taken simply out of exasperation with North Korea.

“There’s a process for it,” she said. “Obviously we would want to see recent evidence of their support for international terrorism.” Asked whether such evidence was already in hand, she added: “We’re just beginning to look at it. I don’t have an answer for you right now.”

When the Bush administration removed North Korea from the list in October, it was largely seen as a political move meant to salvage a fragile nuclear deal. The State Department said at the time that the decision had been made after Pyongyang agreed to resume disabling a plutonium plant and to allow inspections to assure that it had halted its nuclear program. “Obviously they were taken off of the list for a purpose, and that purpose is being thwarted by their actions,” Mrs. Clinton said Sunday.

“If we do not take significant and effective action against the North Koreans now,” Mrs. Clinton said, “we’ll spark an arms race in Northeast Asia. I don’t think anybody wants to see that.”

Japan pressed China on Sunday to take a tough stance on North Korea, saying anything but a “strong” U.N. Security Council resolution in response to last month’s nuclear test would send the wrong message, The Associated Press reported from Tokyo.

But China supports a “moderate and balanced” resolution, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.

Foreign ministers of Japan and China met on the sidelines of high-level talks held Sunday by their economic ministers. Asia’s top two economic powers agreed to strengthen cooperation in trade, technology and other areas.