By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter
North Korea's planned declaration of its nuclear programs will prompt the United States to ease rules on trade and financial transactions with the communist state, but it will still be monitored and regulated in a strict manner, officials in Seoul said Wednesday.
The North is expected to submit the declaration Thursday to China, host of the six-party talks aimed at disabling the North's nuclear facilities. In return, the United States will start the process of removing it from its list of terrorism-sponsoring states under an aid-for-disarmament deal agreed last year.
Washington placed Pyongyang on the blacklist following its bombing of a Korean Air passenger flight in 1987, which took the lives of 115 people onboard.
The United States immediately banned all commercial and military trade with North Korea and blocked it from getting international aid and loans. Only humanitarian aid has been offered since then.
Under laws governing trade with enemy states, Washington froze all assets held by North Korean firms and individuals in U.S. territories. Most financial transactions with the North are strictly forbidden under the law.
The poverty-stricken state has demanded the U.S. remove economic sanctions and allow it to normalize relations with international organizations.
The de-listing of North Korea as a terror sponsor will pave the way for it to join global financial institutions, such as the Asian Development Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and get loans to alleviate its food and energy crisis. It also can get a larger amount of aid from the international community and engage in more global trade.
The measure is also expected to help boost inter-Korean economic cooperation. The Lee Myung-bak administration may move to ease regulations on inter-Korean exchanges and South Korean firms' investment in the North to reflect the changing U.S. stance toward the North.
However, even after the de-listing, barriers will still lie ahead for North Korea to enhance economic relations with the United States and its allies, according to South Korean officials.
``The White House will maintain tight rules against the North for the time being even after taking it off the blacklist,'' an official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade told The Korea Times. ``So it is too early to talk about what short-term benefits the North will have. The measure has rather a symbolic meaning that the North will have a crucial opportunity to regain the trust of the international community.''
Growing opposition in the U.S. Congress to the de-listing is also a major obstacle.
In December of 2007, several Republican senators wrote a letter to President George W. Bush expressing concerns about North Korea's suspected sponsorship of terrorism and opposing the removal of North Korea from the blacklist.
Most Republican Congressmen share the view that the U.S. should not abandon its goals of full disclosure, disarmament and verification before lifting sanctions against the North, Seoul officials say.
The U.S. government doesn't have to get approval for the de-listing from Congress. The measure will automatically take effect 45 days after it informs the representative body.