The United States and North Korea have made a breakthrough in the communist country's stalled denuclearization process with Washington removing the North from its terrorism blacklist Saturday. In turn, the world's last Stalinist state agreed to a series of verification procedures involving its plutonium and uranium-based nuclear programs as well as nuclear proliferation.
We welcome North Korea withdrawing its threat to reassemble its disabled nuclear facilities, while moving to return to the six-nation nuclear disarmament talks. The threat came after the U.S. failed to take North Korea off its list of states sponsoring terrorism on Aug. 11, 45 days after President George W. Bush notified Congress of his plan to remove the country from the list. Regrettably, the plan was delayed due to Pyongyang's rejection of the U.S. demand for a thorough and complete verification mechanism for the North's declared nuclear activities.
The removal of North Korea from the terrorism list carries primarily symbolic meaning because it will take the impoverished country a considerable period of time to benefit from the de-listing. It is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the dictatorial regime to gain access to aid from the International Monetary Fund or other development institutions. However, it is apparent that the North has much to gain politically from the American move.
Now, North Korea can shake off its stigma as a state sponsor of terrorism, more than 20 years after it was put on the State Department's blacklist following its bombing of a South Korean passenger jet over Myanmar in November 1987, killing all 115 passengers on board.
Stressing the ``action for action'' formula, Pyongyang repeatedly resorted to its notorious brinkmanship tactics and nuclear blackmailing. As for the verification mechanism for its nuclear activities, it has received concessions from Washington by forcing the U.S. negotiators to give up on their earlier demand for unrestricted access to its nuclear facilities. Therefore, some critics raise concerns that it may be difficult for international inspectors to conduct verification of undeclared nuclear facilities, which will require consent from both the North and the U.S. under the new agreement.
In this context, President Bush faces criticism for making too many concessions to the North in his desperate effort to make a tangible achievement in nuclear disarmament before his term ends next January. Republican presidential candidate John McCain issued a statement Friday, expressing his opposition to removing North Korean from the terrorism blacklist. McCain's position seems to reflect conservatives' views against the conciliatory gestures by Bush who once branded North Korea as part of an ``axis of evil.''
But, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama took a different stance. He described the new agreement on the verification measures as a ``modest step'' in dismantling the North's nuclear weapons programs. There is little doubt that North Korea has played for time in a bid to wait for a power transition in the U.S. Whoever becomes the next American president, the North should sincerely make good on its denuclearization commitments in order to move toward peace, reconciliation and co-prosperity on the Korean Peninsula.