North Korea before any talks could begin for removing Khartoum from the US "terrorism" blacklist, a top US official said Monday.Washington lifted its decades-old trade embargo imposed on Khartoum in October, but kept Sudan in its list of "state sponsors of terrorism", which Sudanese officials say makes international banks wary of doing business with Sudanese banks, and in turn hampers an economic revival in the African country.
Sudanese officials have been pushing to remove Sudan from the blacklist -- which also includes North Korea, Syria and Iran -- as they grapple with surging inflation, high debt and the loss of oil earnings.