Seoul, South Korea – North Korea said Monday the United States has decided to remove the Communist nation from a list of terrorism-sponsoring states and lift sanctions, despite the chief U.S. envoy’s insistence that the issue was still under discussion.
An agreement reached in February called for such measures in exchange for North Korea’s shutting down its nuclear reactor, disclosing its nuclear programs and disabling its related facilities.
In a report carried by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Washington’s decision to lift sanctions and remove the North from a terrorism list came in a weekend meeting with North Korean representatives in Geneva.
The move came after North Korea agreed to take “practical measures to neutralize” its existing nuclear facilities this year, the spokesman said.
State Department spokeswoman Nancy Beck said she did not have confirmation of the KCNA report, and Christopher Hill, the chief American envoy, made it clear in his news conference in Geneva that the North Koreans still have work to do before the United States is ready to take the country off the terrorism list.
