Donald Trump declares 'murderous' North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism

collected by :Tod Hinery

open_word} President Donald Trump declared North Korea a state sponsor of terror and promised new sanctions at the "highest level". Mr Trump cited Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions and assassinations carried out on foreign soil for the decision. They also said the death of US student Otto Warmbier, who died of injuries suffered in North Korean custody, constituted terrorism. Mr Trump, speaking at the White House, said: "In addition to threatening the world by nuclear devastation North Korea has repeatedly supported acts of international terrorism including assassinations on foreign soil. North Korea must end its unlawful nuclear and ballistic missile development.

Donald Trump plans to declare North Korea a state sponsor of terror

Donald Trump has announced that the US will designate North Korea as a state sponsor of terror amid heightened nuclear tensions on the Korean peninsula. North Korea would join Iran, Sudan and Syria on the list of state sponsors of terror. "In addition to threatening the world by nuclear devastation, North Korea has repeatedly supported acts of international terrorism including assassinations on foreign soil," Trump said in a cabinet meeting. US officials cited the killing of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's estranged half brother in a Malaysian airport in February as an act of terrorism. In the years since, North Korea has made advanced leaps in its nuclear and missile programs, proving the capacity to reach US territories with the devastating weapons earlier this year.

Donald Trump to put North Korea on terrorist list: 'A murderous regime'

As it stated in It should have happened years ago," the president said when announcing the terrorist designation for Mr. Kim's "murderous regime.""The North Korean regime must be lawful," he said. North Korea was designated a sponsor of terrorism for two decades after it was implicated in the 1987 bombing of a South Korean airliner that killed 115 people. President George W. Bush removed North Korea from the list in 2008 as part of an aid-for-disarmament deal. But he said the new measure would close "some of the loopholes."Putting North Korea on the list has bipartisan support in Congress. North Korea has successfully launched intercontinental ballistic missiles that are now believed capable of carrying nuclear warheads to much of the U.S. mainland.