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Trump to declare North Korea a state sponsor of terror

President Donald Trump on Monday returned North Korea to the list of designated state sponsors of terrorism, saying before TV cameras that it “should have happened years ago.”

Trump made the declaration at the start of a Cabinet meeting, and promised that it would bring “the highest level” of sanctions ever levied against the country. Trump added that the designation would be formally made by the Treasury Department on Tuesday.

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“In addition to threatening the world by nuclear devastation, North Korea has supported acts of international terrorism, including assassinations on foreign soil,” Trump said, referring to the killing of Kim Jong Un’s half brother in a Malaysian airport this past February.

North Korea was removed from the list in 2008 by the Bush administration, after the North Korean government made some concessions with its nuclear program.

But after the Trump administration’s recent efforts to scuttle the landmark nuclear deal that Barack Obama struck with Iran, North Korea has resisted similar efforts to pare down its own nuclear weapons development.