The United States yesterday redesignated North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism, despite widespread speculation that Washington was about to shift its position on this issue.
However, the US State Department insisted that North Korea's inclusion on the list, contained in the annual "Global Patterns of Terrorism" report, did not mean the country could not be removed in the near future.
"North Korea has made some positive statements condemning terrorism in all its forms," the report said.
The report specifically noted Pyongyang's harbouring of Japanese Red Army terrorists wanted for a 1970 hijacking of a Japanese plane.
