North Korea will join Iran, Sudan and Syria on the blacklist. The action had been debated for months inside the administration, with some officials at the State Department arguing that North Korea did not meet the legal standard to be relisted as a state sponsor of terrorism. North Korea was on the terrorism blacklist for two decades after the 1987 bombing of a South Korean airliner killed 115 people. It requested a determination as to whether such acts constitute support for international terrorism. The legislation also cited the 2015 computer hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which the FBI blamed on North Korea.

Source: thestar November 20, 2017 17:37 UTC