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S.Korea hails US decision of deleting DPRK from terrorism list

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-10-12 12:43

SEOUL -- South Korean government on Sunday hailed US decision to delete the Democratic People's Republic of Korea(DPRK) from its terrorism blacklist and expected an early resumption of six-party talks.

Related readings:  DPRK off US blacklist after nuke inspection deal

"The agreement is expected to put the six-party talks back on a normal track and serve as an opportunity for the North(DPRK) to ultimately abandon its nuclear program," said Kim Sook, South Korea 's chief negotiator for the six-party talks on the nuclear issues on the Korean Peninsula, at a news briefing here.

He said the members of the six-party talks, including China, the United States, DPRK, Russia, Japan and South Korea, will soon gather in Beijing to discuss details.

However, he didn't mention when will the six-party talks resume.

The United States announced Saturday that it will remove the DPRK from its terrorism blacklist after the two sides reached a deal on verification measures over DPRK's nuclear program.

According to US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, the DPRK would also resume disablement of its nuclear facilities and allow atomic experts to take samples and conduct forensic tests at all of its declared nuclear facilities and undeclared sites on mutual consent.

The removal of the DPRK from the terrorism list follows a two- day trip to Pyongyang by chief US negotiator to the six-party nuclear talks, Christopher Hill, earlier this month.

During the trip, Hill and DPRK negotiators reached an agreement in which the United States would provisionally remove the DPRK from the terror list once the DPRK agrees to verification of its nuclear declaration.

The US listing of DPRK as a "terrorism sponsor" has been a major factor in the deadlock over the Korean peninsula nuclear issue.

In June, US President George W. Bush promised to delist the DPRK from the terrorism sponsor list but never took action after U. S.-DPRK talks on a plan to verify Pyongyang's assertions on its nuclear programs broke down.  

The DPRK blew up the cooling tower of its atomic reactor on June 27 to demonstrate its commitment to nuclear disarmament, a day after handing over details of its atomic programs.

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