North Korea indicated that it would be willing to send a high level delegation to Washington for direct talks with the US government if the US would remove it from the list of countries that sponsor terrorism. The US said it would review the offer. Analysts are skeptical of the entire idea. A North Korean delegation sent to Washington would not be likely to be any more cooperative or realistic than one negotiating at Panmunjom, and removing North Korea from the list of terrorist sponsors when it continues to do so would turn the list into a political honorific rather than a realistic assessment of the state of world security.--Stephen V Cole