U.S. removal of North Korea from terror list raises ire

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration announced on Saturday that it was removing North Korea from a list of state sponsors of terrorism and said the country had agreed to adhere to concessions on its nuclear program, in a bid to salvage a fragile nuclear deal that seemed on the verge of collapse.

Sean McCormack, the State Department spokesman, said the key to the diplomatic shift, after weeks of tense negotiation, was North Korea's agreement to resume disabling its plutonium plant at Yongbyon, replace the seals on its nuclear equipment and allow international inspectors to return.

But almost immediately, the move brought expressions of concern from Republican lawmakers, including the presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, who said he wanted an explanation of how "the verification agreement advances American interests."

John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under Bush and a strong critic of the deal, said that the Bush administration had "punted" the hardest issue. "This means that North Korea has a veto over everything beyond Yongbyon," he said, "so that's a clear victory for North Korea."

The North's removal from the terror list was effective immediately.

The terrorism designation — now shared only by Cuba, Iran, Syria and Sudan — carries severe penalties. In the most significant part of the agreement, North Korea agreed to a verification regime that would allow U.S. inspectors access to all of its declared nuclear facilities. But according to a senior administration official, the deal puts off decisions on the thorniest verification issue: what happens if international experts suspect the North is hiding other nuclear-weapons facilities.

The deal also salvages an agreement that the Bush administration hoped to trumpet as one of its major foreign-policy achievements.

The United States wanted the North to agree to inspections at sites that raise suspicions, but North Korea balked. The new agreement calls for U.S. inspectors to be granted access "based on mutual consent" with North Korea.

Experts on North Korea say the concession by the United States was probably necessary to achieve a deal, but that it, no doubt, will lead to more fights because the North's leaders will not want to give inspectors free rein to travel the country.

The agreement follows weeks of intense negotiations and high-stakes brinkmanship, as North Korea, furious that the Bush administration had not removed it from the terrorism list as it agreed last summer, threatened to restart its plutonium-based weapons program and barred international inspectors from the Yongbyon plant. In Washington, State Department proponents of the deal, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her top North Korea envoy, Christopher Hill, battled critics within and outside the administration who castigated them for trying to salvage the accord.

Rice convinced President Bush last week that this was the best the administration could get in the time remaining in office.

The Bush administration has been eager to get a deal with North Korea before Bush, who once labeled North Korea a part of the "axis of evil," leaves office in January. The administration had dragged its feet about nuclear negotiations with North Korea for years, but in 2006 the North exploded a nuclear device. Shortly after that, the U.S. redoubled its efforts at negotiations, finally reaching an agreement this year.