DATE=8/9/2000 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=US / NOKOR TALKS (L CQ) NUMBER=2-265285 BYLINE=HYUN SUNG KHANG DATELINE=SEOUL CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: US and North Korean officials, scheduled to meet in Pyongyang Wednesday and Thursday, will discuss what North Korea must do to be removed from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism. The US delegation is being led by counter-terrorism coordinator Michael Sheehan. Hyun-Sung Khang reports. TEXT: A US State Department spokesman says Mr. Sheehan will explain the steps North Korea must take to be considered for removal from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism. Washington is reportedly demanding North Korea publicly renounce terrorism and expel Japanese Red Army members who hijacked a Japanese airliner in 1970. North Korea is one of seven countries on the State Department's list and as such is excluded from all but humanitarian aid and has limited access to international credit. Pyongyang was put on the terrorist list in 1987, because of what Washington says was its involvement in the bombing of a South Korean airliner. All 115 people on board died. There's unlikely to be any immediate results from this meeting, but analysts suggest that the fact the two sides are meeting and talking about the North's possible removal from the list is itself significant. Mr. Sheehan's talks build on last month's meeting between the Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and the North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun in Bangkok, Thailand. After those talks, Secretary Albright described the meeting as a symbolically historic step away from what she called the sterility and hostility of past bilateral relations. (Signed) NEB/HK/HSK/JO/KBK 09-Aug-2000 11:22 AM EDT (09-Aug-2000 1522 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .
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