North seen still on U.S. terrorism list

North Korea will be listed again in the U.S. government's annual report of "state sponsors of terrorism," political sources in Washington and Seoul said Tuesday.

The State Department's "Patterns of Global Terrorism" report was due out Tuesday. Since 1979, Washington has drawn up an annual list of state sponsors of terrorism; North Korea has been included since 1988, after the 1987 Korean Air bombing.

The updated report will probably justify its accusation by pointing out that North Korea still provides shelter for terrorists from the group Japanese Red Army, diplomatic sources in Washington said. The Japanese hijacked a Japan Air Line commercial jet to Pyeongyang in 1970.

The U.S. State Department is, however, expected to acknowledge some recent anti-terrorist activities by Pyeongyang, said Yu Jeong-yeon, a North American bureau official at Seoul's Foreign Ministry. "North Korea has signed two anti-terrorist treaties since the Sept. 11 attacks," he said. "That probably would be seen as a positive development." It also joined the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and the International Convention Against the Taking of Hostages last year.

by Kim Jin