(LEAD) U.S. mulls relisting N. Korea as state sponsor of terrorism: Clinton

(ATTN: UPDATES with more details, background throughout)
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, June 7 (Yonhap) -- The United States is considering relisting North
Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said
Sunday, as the international community seeks to sanction Pyongyang for its second
nuclear test in nearly three years.

"Well, we're going to look at it. There's a process for it. Obviously we would
want to see recent evidence of their support for international terrorism,"
Clinton said on ABC's This Week program.
Clinton's remarks came in response to a letter she received from several U.S.
senators Tuesday asking for the North's relisting.
Pyongyang was put on the list in 1988, soon after North Korean agents blasted a
Korean Air plane over Myanmar, killing all 115 passengers aboard.
The Bush administration delisted the North in October to facilitate the North's
denuclearization, as Pyongyang agreed verbally to a protocol for verification of
its past and current nuclear activity as part of the disabling process of its
nuclear facilities under a six-nation deal.
"You know, we take it very seriously," Clinton said. "I mean, obviously they were
taken off of the list for a purpose, and that purpose is being thwarted by their
actions."
Clinton's remarks run counter to those of Philip Crowley, assistant secretary of
state for public affairs.
"As far as I know, firing off missiles and overheated rhetoric is unwise,
unhelpful, but does not meet the legal definition of terrorism," Crowley told a
daily news briefing Wednesday. "To list a country on the terrorism list, there's
a legal requirement there. And what we've seen so far I don't think meets that
legal test."
Clinton's tougher position comes as U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James
Steinberg on Saturday concluded a week-long trip to Seoul, Beijing and Tokyo,
seeking support for arms and financial embargoes to shut down North Korea's main
source of hard currency and access to foreign financial institutions.
"One of the positive developments in the face of what has been very provocative
and belligerent behavior by the North Koreans is that it has actually brought the
members of (the) six-party process -- Japan, South Korea, China, Russia, the
United States -- much closer together in how we view," he said. "I think what is
going somewhere is additional sanctions in the United Nations, arms embargo,
other measures taken against North Korea with the full support of China and
Russia."
China, North Korea's closest communist ally and its greatest benefactor, along
with Russia thwarted a bid by Washington and its allies to adopt a legally
binding resolution after North Korea's April 5 rocket launch. A largely symbolic
Security Council presidential statement was adopted at that time.
China, considered the key to effective implementation of any sanctions on North
Korea, which is heavily dependent on its communist neighbor for energy, food and
other necessities, agreed on a resolution against the North after its second
nuclear test May 25.
The veto-wielding P-5 plus two countries, South Korea and Japan, have met several
times for the past couple of weeks, but have yet to narrow differences over the
level of sanctions.
"We are working very hard to create a mechanism where we can interdict North
Korean shipments," Clinton said. "Obviously some countries -- not just the ones I
named -- but others have some legitimate concerns about setting precedent and
alike. But ... we think we're going to come out of this with a very strong
resolution with teeth that will have consequences for the North Korean regime."
China and Russia want any cargo inspections to be made within the framework of
existing international law, which bans any interdictions in international waters
unless approved by the country of the flag carried by the vessels.
"We will do everything we can to both interdict it and prevent it and shut off
their flow of money," she said. "If we do not take significant and effective
action against the North Koreans now, we'll spark an arms race in Northeast
Asia."
U.S. President Barack Obama will guarantee the defense of South Korea against
nuclear-armed North Korea in writing with an "extended deterrence" when Obama
meets South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in Washington on June 16, South Korean
Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said Friday.
Pyongyang's second nuclear test sparked heated debate in South Korea over the
possibility of starting its own nuclear weapons program, an effort that the U.S.
successfully thwarted in the 1970s when then South Korean President Park
Chung-hee wanted to make nuclear weapons.
Park feared a power vacuum on the Korean Peninsula after a decision by the U.S.
to withdraw a portion of U.S. troops stationed in South Korea at that time.
On reports that ailing North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has tapped his youngest
son, Jong-un, as his successor, Clinton said, "We don't yet know ... the outcome
of that decision. We would have to wait and evaluate it, the time of it, who
might be essentially, you know, put in place to supervise him, if he were the
choice. We have to evaluate all of that."
North Korea's recent provocations, including nuclear and missile tests, are
widely seen as an attempt by the North Korean leader to help his 26-year-old son
consolidate power in the third generation dynastic power transfer in the
reclusive communist state.
Kim Jong-il, who apparently suffered a stroke last summer, is said to have
anointed Jong-un as his successor soon after last month's nuclear test amid
conflicting opinions over whether he truly intends to abandon the country's
nuclear arsenal.
South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said Friday, "It may be premature to
say, but a variety of intelligence tells us that North Korea is in the process of
a power transition to Kim Jong-un."
hdh@yna.co.kr
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