A look at the 4 countries the US says sponsor terrorism
TOKYO — North Korea is on its way back onto a very short list of countries the United States says sponsor terrorism.
The designation, announced by President Donald Trump on Monday, will expand the already substantial array of sanctions the U.S. has imposed on trade with North Korea. It will clamp down further on the North’s access to banks and other financial institutions and, more importantly, deepen the stigma any potential trading partners will have to take into account before doing business with Pyongyang.
Even though many of the punishments against North Korea have already been enacted under previous sanctions measures, putting any country on the list is a very serious move by Washington. There are only three other countries on the list: Sudan, Iran and Syria. Cuba, which had been on the list from 1982, was removed by then-President Barack Obama in 2015.
But how exactly does the terrorism charge fit North Korea? And how does North Korea compare to the other countries on the list?