KEI Guide On: The State Sponsors of Terrorism List

The Secretary of State has the responsibility to designate countries on the State Sponsors of Terrorism List (SPOT List).

Following the March 26 sinking of the Cheonan, there has been renewed efforts to redesignate North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism. While the Cheonan incident itself may not technically qualify, increasing attention is being given to North Korean activity overall that would mandate the DPRK being relisted. In fact, Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen, along with the co-sponsorship of seven of her colleagues, has just introduced House Resolution 5350, calling for the U.S. government to relist North Korea on the SPOT list.

In light of all this, KEI has compiled a guide outlining the legal framework, background, and applications of the State Sponsor of Terrorism List. The guide, which can be found here, provides the following:

• How does a state get added to the SPOT list?
• What are the consequences of being on the SPOT list?
• When is a state removed from the SPOT list?
• SPOT list members and examples of their addition or removal from the list
• Reference list of current U.S. Government-designated foreign terrorist organizations

Direct link to the guide: http://www.keia.org/SPOTGuide.pdf

Information in this document was compiled by Andrew Selman at the Korea Economic Institute, and drawn primarily from the State Department website, the State Department’s Country Reports on Terrorism, Congressional Research Service Reports, and the U.S. Code. Andrew can be contacted at intnc@keia.org.