US puts N Korea on terror blacklist

PRESIDENT DONALD Trump has announced the US is putting North Korea’s “murderous regime” on America’s terrorism blacklist.

Mr Trump said the designation of North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism was long overdue, and he promised a new wave of sanctions as part of a “maximum pressure campaign” over the North’s development of nuclear weapons that could soon pose a direct threat to the US mainland.

North Korea will join Iran, Sudan and Syria on the blacklist.

The North had been designated for two decades until 2008 when it was removed in a bid to salvage international talks aimed at halting its nuclear efforts. The talks collapsed soon after and have not been revived since.

The primary impact of the designation may be to compound North Korea’s growing international isolation as it is already subject to an array of tough US sanctions restricting trade, foreign assistance, defence sales and exports of sensitive technology.

The step is likely to further sour relations between Washington and Pyongyang that have turned uglier with name-calling between Mr Trump and Kim Jong Un.

There is strong bipartisan support for the move in Congress, which had passed legislation in August requiring the State Department to make a determination on putting North Korea back on the list.

“In addition to threatening the world by nuclear devastation, North Korea has repeatedly supported acts of international terrorism, including assassinations on foreign soil,” Mr Trump said as he announced the designation at a Cabinet meeting at the White House.