Trump declares North Korea 'sponsor of terror'

Trump declares North Korea 'sponsor of terror'

President Trump has announced that the US is re-designating North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism, nine years after it was removed from the list.
In a cabinet meeting, he said the move would trigger "very large" additional sanctions to be announced on Tuesday.
But Secretary of State Rex Tillerson later admitted that "the practical effects may be limited".

In September, the US proposed a range of United Nations sanctions against North Korea, including an oil ban and a freeze on leader Kim Jong-un's assets.
It followed the North's sixth nuclear test and repeated missile launches.

North Korea joins Iran, Sudan and Syria on a list of countries that are deemed to have repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism.
The country has been on the list before but was removed in 2008 by the administration of George W Bush as part of negotiations on the North's nuclear programme.

Move makes talks even less likely
By Barbara Plett Usher, State Department correspondent, BBC News
Secretary Tillerson hasn't given up on a negotiated solution to the stand-off with North Korea.

He told journalists he still hoped for diplomacy. But the decision to put Pyongyang back on the list of state sponsors of terrorism will almost certainly set back the possibility of any opening for talks, at least in the short term.
The chances of that happening were slim anyway. And it might prompt a backlash from North Korea, perhaps by way of another missile test