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U.S. DROPS NORTH KOREA FROM TERRORISM LIST

Glenn Kessler

The Washington Post, October 12, 2008

The Bush administration removed North Korea from its terrorism blacklist yesterday, a move that was aimed at salvaging a sputtering nuclear disarmament deal but that sparked internal controversy, infuriated Japan and drew some Republican opposition.
Critics of the accord with a charter member of President Bush's "axis of evil" said the administration had succumbed to the brinkmanship typical of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, who two days ago barred inspectors from the Yongbyon nuclear reactor, threatened to resume production of weapons-grade plutonium and appeared to prepare for another nuclear test.

But President Bush decided late Friday that North Korea had earned the move by showing enough cooperation on broad principles for verifying its nuclear claims, and yesterday morning, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signed the document officially deleting North Korea from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. U.S. officials said North Korea, in turn, agreed not to restart its partially disabled reactor.

In 2002, Bush had famously lumped North Korea with Iraq and Iran, declaring, "States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil." But preserving the nuclear deal with Pyongyang gives the lame-duck administration boasting rights of a diplomatic accomplishment it can pass on to the next president.

The decision reflects a striking evolution in the administration's foreign policy, toward a more pragmatic effort to open contacts and strike understandings with countries such as Iran and Syria, once deemed too belligerent for diplomatic contact. But it also runs the risk of alienating key supporters.

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