The Slatest

Trump Declares North Korea a “State Sponsor of Terrorism.” Does North Korea Really Commit Terrorism?

Vietnamese defendant Doan Thi Huong and Indonesian defendant Siti Aishah during their trial for their alleged role in the assassination of Kim Jong-nam in Malaysia. 

AFP/Getty Images

President Trump announced Monday that he is relisting North Korea as a “state sponsor of terrorism,” something he said “should have happened a long time ago.” The list, which entails restrictions on U.S. exports and foreign assistance, won’t have a big material effect on North Korea, which doesn’t buy a lot of American stuff to begin with. But the list has historically been less about having material impact than making a political statement—though it’s not always clear just what that statement is.

As I wrote in March, the list was introduced in the closing days of the Carter administration, meant to prevent the export of goods to countries where they could “enhance the ability of such country to support acts of international terrorism.” The original list was Iraq, Libya, South Yemen, and Syria. The current list consists of Iran, Sudan, and Syria. A government supporting terrorism is not the same thing as its citizens posing a terrorist risk. Nonetheless, the list was cited as justification for the original list of countries whose citizens the Obama administration subjected to visa restrictions following the San Bernardino attack as well as some of the countries whose citizens were prevented from entering the United States under Trump’s original travel ban.

North Korea’s nuclear program and human rights abuses are certainly worth of condemnation, but is it really a sponsor of terrorism? It has been on the list before. It was added in 1988 in large part because of its role in the bombing of a South Korean airliner the year before. The George W. Bush administration delisted North Korea in 2008 after it agreed to halt its nuclear program and allow inspections. Similarly, Cuba stayed on the list for decades until 2015, when it was removed by the Obama administration, more because of America’s opposition to the Cuban government than any actual support for terrorism. Meanwhile, countries such as Pakistan—a U.S. ally whose military and intelligence services have been accused of backing the Taliban, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and other groups—have never been listed.

In announcing his decision Monday, Trump said that “North Korea has repeatedly supported acts of international terrorism, including assassinations on foreign soil.” This likely refers to the killing of Kim Jong-un’s brother Kim Jong-nam in Malaysia earlier this year. Trump also mentioned Otto Warmbier, the U.S. student who died shortly after being released from North Korean custody this past summer.

There’s a better case for designating North Korea than there is for other countries that have been on the list—Cuba, for its last few years of inclusion, for instance. (Though, if taking U.S. citizens hostage is terrorism, Trump may want to have a word with his good friend Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey.) But this list has been so politicized, and its double standards are so glaring, that it’s hard to take this new step seriously as a means of getting tough on Pyongyang.