US State Department Re-designates North Korea as 'Non-Cooperative Country on Terrorism'... "Ban on Defense Article Exports"

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[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] On the 13th (local time), the U.S. Department of State announced that it will re-designate North Korea as a "State Sponsor of Terrorism Non-Cooperation Country." Countries designated as State Sponsor of Terrorism Non-Cooperation include North Korea, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, and Cuba, among others, and exports of weapons and defense materials and services to these countries are prohibited.

In a press release on the same day, the U.S. Department of State stated that North Korea is being re-designated as a State Sponsor of Terrorism Non-Cooperation Country, citing the reason that "four Japanese nationals involved in the 1970 hijacking of a Japanese aircraft continue to reside in North Korea as of 2019," referring to Japan's abduction issue. The U.S. Department of State explained, "Sales or export licenses for defense materials and services to countries certified as State Sponsor of Terrorism Non-Cooperation are prohibited," and "these countries do not fully cooperate with the U.S. counterterrorism efforts, and this designation informs the American public and the international community of that fact." North Korea has been designated as such for 24 years since the U.S. first designated it as a State Sponsor of Terrorism Non-Cooperation Country in 1996.

Separately, North Korea is also designated as a State Sponsor of Terrorism along with Syria and Sudan. It was first designated as a State Sponsor of Terrorism in the 1988 terrorism report due to the 1987 Korean Air passenger plane bombing incident. The designation was lifted in 2008 during the George W. Bush administration amid a warming atmosphere in North Korea-U.S. talks, including the demolition of the Yongbyon nuclear facility cooling tower. However, after the Donald Trump administration took office and tensions between North Korea and the U.S. peaked, North Korea was re-designated as a State Sponsor of Terrorism in November 2017, after nine years.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.