U.S. officials traveling to North Korea for counter terrorism talks

August 9, 2000
Web posted at: 10:09 a.m. HKT (0209 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A United States delegation is en route to North Korea for talks on terrorism, which could pave the way for the North's removal from the list of states that sponsored terrorism, the State Department announced Tuesday.

The team will be led by Ambassador Michael Sheehan, the U.S. Coordinator for Counter Terrorism. Sheehan and his team will hold talks in Pyongyang on August 9 and 10. The two countries held a previous round of talks last March in New York.

	MESSAGE BOARD
North and South Korea

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Sheehan will explain the steps the North must take to end its support for terrorism in order to get off the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.

"We have described for the North Koreans what they need to do to meet out serious concern," Boucher said. "In our bi-lateral talks, we've made quite clear what they need to do to be removed."

The latest U.S. terrorism report lists North Korea's harboring of Japanese Red Army members involved in the 1970 hijacking of a Japanese airline as one of the major issues of concern.

"Resolving that issue certainly would be an important step in addressing our concerns about their support for terrorism," Boucher said Tuesday.

Sheehan's visit comes on the heels of a historic meeting between Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and her North Korean counterpart, Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun while the two were in Bangkok last month for a meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers.

Boucher added that Albright discussed the issue of terrorism with Paek in the meeting.

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U.S. State Department
Korean Central News Agency
North Korea: Politics and Government
North Korea
CIA -- The World Factbook 1999 -- Korea, North

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