Calls heard to return N. Korea to terror list

WASHINGTON (AP) — The apparent assassination of the North Korean leader’s estranged half brother is strengthening bipartisan calls for the U.S. to relist North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism, a designation lifted nine years ago.

The U.S. kept North Korea on its terrorism blacklist for two decades after the 1987 bombing of a South Korean airliner killed 115 people.

But President George W. Bush lifted the designation in 2008.

The U.S. considers only Iran, Sudan and Syria as terrorism sponsors.