US official: NKorea OKs nuke inspection demands
WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. official has told The Associated Press that North Korea has agreed to all U.S. nuclear inspection demands. The development allows the Bush administration to remove the communist country from a U.S. terrorism blacklist.
The official says North Korea will allow atomic experts to take samples and conduct forensic tests at all of the North's declared nuclear facilities and undeclared sites on mutual consent.
The official says the North will allow experts to verify that it has told the truth about transfers of nuclear technology and an alleged uranium program.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity, not wanted to pre-empt Saturday's announcement of the agreement. The deal is aimed at salvaging a faltering nuclear disarmament accord.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is dropping North Korea from a terrorism blacklist, The Associated Press has learned, in the latest attempt to salvage a nuclear disarmament deal before President Bush's term ends in January.
The State Department planned an 11 a.m. EDT announcement Saturday about removing the secretive communist country from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, U.S. officials said.
The removal is only provisional, they said. North Korea would return to the list if it fails to comply with inspections of its nuclear facilities as part of the effort to get it to abandon atomic weapons.
The action comes as North Korea moves to restart a disabled nuclear reactor and takes other provocative steps, including expelling U.N. inspectors and test-firing missiles. These steps in recent weeks have heightened tensions with the U.S. and threatened the shaky agreement.
It also follows days of intense internal debate in Washington and consultations with U.S. negotiating partners China, South Korea, Russia and Japan. Tokyo had balked at the move because North Korea has not resolved issues related to its abduction of Japanese citizens.
The decision has been in the works since chief U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill returned from a trip to North Korea late last week. On his visit, he pressed North Korea to accept a plan to verify its accounting of nuclear activities.
The decision already has drawn criticism from conservatives who believe the U.S. is rewarding North Korea for bad behavior.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain said in a statement he would not support the step unless it is clear North Korea is serious about disarmament and will accept intrusive inspections of its nuclear sites.
"I expect the administration to explain exactly how this new verification agreement advances American interests and those of our allies before I will be able to support any decision to remove North Korea from the list of state sponsors of terrorism," he said.
McCain added that he was "concerned that this latest agreement appears to have been reached between Washington and Pyongyang and only then discussed with our Asian allies in an effort to garner their support."
On Friday, U.S. officials said they were trying to build a consensus among negotiating partners on the step as well as the inspection rules that Washington insists must accompany removing North Korea from the list.
At issue was whether tentative arrangements worked out last week between Hill and the North Koreans were acceptable to the others. Under those terms, the U.S. provisionally would remove North Korea from the terrorist list once the North agrees to the inspections.
North Korea, along with Iran and Iraq, were branded as part of an "axis of evil" by Bush after the Sept. 11 attacks.