Removal of North Korea from Terrorism Sponsor List

North Korea and the U.S. settled a hostile relationship longer than 50 years old and took the first step toward normalization.

North Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Kwan and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher R. Hill held a first working-level meeting on the normalization of relations in the U.S. Ambassador`s Residence in the U.N. within Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, U.S.A., on March 5.

The talks, which were held according to the Beijing agreement on the North Korean nuclear freeze, are the first official U.S.-North Korea meeting after the North Korean crisis took place in October 2002. The talks will continue on March 6.

The talks lasted for four hours and 20 minutes, starting from 5:40 p.m. and lasting until 10:00 p.m. The selection of the agenda which should be addressed for the normalization of relations and its procedures were mainly discussed in this meeting.

This meeting was attended by Assistant Secretary Christopher R. Hill and Victor Cha, a director for Asian Affairs at the National Security Council of the White House, Sung Kim, director of the State Department`s Office of Korean Affairs, and seven members of delegation including Vice Foreign Minister Kim and Kim Myong Gil, a deputy chief of North Korea`s mission to the United Nations in New York.

Hill is scheduled to announce the meeting’s results through a news conference at an overseas press club in New York on March 6.

Sean McCormack, spokesman for the U.S. State Department, said in a briefing before the meeting on March 5, “I’m convinced that Assistant Secretary Hill will explain to the vice foreign minister of North Korea the procedures needed to normalize the relations such as removing a list of state sponsors of terrorism, and North Korea will make public plans to carry out the 9.19 joint statement and the 2.13 agreement.”

He emphasized, “This meeting will serve as the first litmus test to see if North Korea has strategically decided to denuclearize North Korea.”

When asked if the U.S. made steps to remove North Korea from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, the State Department Spokesman said, “There was just a prior discussion on what steps are needed to make to get rid of North Korea from the list before the working-level meeting. I do not think any progress has been made further yet.”

North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Kwan intensively discussed issues such as removal of the list, trade prohibition law with hostile countries, and light-water reactors in a seminar, said a participant.

kong@donga.com