US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday said that the Obama administration is considering to re-list the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) as a state sponsor of terrorism.
In an interview with ABC TV's George Stephanopoulos, Clinton admitted that some Senators have asked to put the DPRK back to the "terror state" blacklist, adding that the administration has begun to consider the move against Pyongyang.
"There's a process for it. Obviously we would want to see recent evidence of their support for international terrorism," she added. "We're just beginning to look at it."
The DPRK was cited on the US State Department's list of countries that sponsor terrorism and had been titled by then President George W. Bush as a member of the "axis of evil", along with Iran and Iraq.
Under the six-party talk's framework which characterized with "action for action", on Oct. 11, 2008, after Pyongyang agreed to all US nuclear inspection demands, the Bush administration responded by removing the DPRK from the terrorism blacklist.
Clinton's remark came a day after President Barack Obama promised a stronger response to Pyongyang.
"We are going to take a very hard look at how we move forward on these issues, and I don't think that there should be an assumption that we will simply continue down a path in which North Korea is constantly destabilizing the region and we just react in the same ways by, after they've done these things for a while, then we reward them," Obama told reporters Saturday in France where he attended the 65th Anniversary of the D-Day.
"North Korea's actions over the last several months have been extraordinarily provocative and they have made no bones about the fact that they are testing nuclear weapons, testing missiles that potentially would have intercontinental capacity," said the president.
On May 25, the DPRK announced it has "successfully conducted one more underground nuclear test," which Pyongyang said has demonstrated "self-defensive nuclear deterrent".
The nuclear test and the following missile tests have worsened the security situation in Northeast Asia.
In the United States, some claimed the administration has to consider more coercive measures, including re-listing the DPRK as state sponsor of terrorism, exerting financial sanctions, expelling from the UN, even waging military strikes, if diplomacy couldn't frustrate Pyongyang's nuclear ambition.
However, diplomacy still is the prior choice the Obama administration would adopt. The United States is working with the UN Security Council to pass a strong resolution to make Pyongyang realize that it must "pay a price" for its provocative actions.
(Xinhua News Agency June 8, 2009)
