Trump to Declare North Korea a State Sponsor of Terrorism

Declaration Allows US to Impose a New Round of Sanctions

In a move that appears to be based more or less entirely on allegations they were behind the February assassination of Kim Jong-nam, President Trump has indicated that the US will be putting North Korea back on the list of state sponsors of terrorism.”

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson conceded the move was “very symbolic.” This will add North Korea to a list of nations that can officially be blamed for terrorism, including Sudan, Syria, and Iran. North Korea had been on the list in the past, but was removed in 2008.

While Trump played up the move as mostly about imposing a bunch of new sanctions on North Korea, Tillerson also appeared to downplay that, saying that the practical effects would be very limited, given all the sanctions already n place.

This has been a recurring problem for the US, which is always desperate to “do more” with North Korea sanctions, but has already banned everything meaningful long ago, meaning each new round of sanctions is increasingly petty and trivial, banning things like ski equipment that weren’t exactly flying off the shelves in the first place.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.