editorial comment Well, since that Thai government pre-emptively killed 3 000 of its citizens (including such collateral damage as an infant crossed in crossfire) and that Thailand was critized by the US Human Rights Commission for that very reason....... Compassionate conservative anyone?

US President George W. Bush on Thursday removed Thailand from an annual US narcotics blacklist but maintained in it other Asian nations Afghanistan, Myanmar, China, India, Laos, Pakistan and Vietnam.

He also expressed deep concern about North Korean-linked drugs being trafficked to other East Asian countries, saying there was a "high likelihood" state agents from Pyongyang were involved in the illicit trade.

Despite frequent claims about North Korea links to the drugs trade, the Stalinist state is not included in the so-called "Major's List" of the United States comprising key drug-transit or drug-producing countries.

Except for Thailand, the seven Asian nations remained in the list of 22 "major drug-transit or major illicit drug producing countries" accompanying the US government's annual report to Congress. Nearly all the other nations were from Latin America.

Bush authorized Secretary of State Colin Powell to submit to Congress the 2004 government report, the White House said in a statement.

The president said the blacklisted countries "failed demonstrably to make substantial efforts" during the previous 12 months to adhere to international counternarcotics agreements and take the counternarcotics measures specified in US law."

Thailand was removed from the list because its opium poppy cultivation was well below the levels specified under US law, no heroin processing laboratories were found in the country for several years and it was no longer a significant direct source or transit point of illicit narcotics trade, the statement said.

Bush also reported to Congress that Myanmar "failed demonstrably" during the last year to adhere to its obligations under international counternarcotics agreements and to take the measures set forth in US law.

The United States had warned in March that while Myanmar had cut poppy cultivation it remained the world's second-ranked supplier of the drug from which derivatives such as heroin are made.

Thailand also said earlier this year that it was considering building a high-security fence along its border with Myanmar in a bid to stop smugglers trafficking illegal drugs into the kingdom.

On Afghanistan, Bush said despite "good-faith efforts" on the part of the government of US-backed President Hamid Karzai, there were "concerns about the increased opium crop production and the government's lack of capacity to prevail in the provinces."

Afghanistan's opium trade has spiraled since the ouster of the harsh Taliban regime in late 2001.

A bumper crop last year generated 2.3 billion dollars and produced three-quarters of the world's heroin, including 90 percent of the heroin in Europe. The boom has sparked warnings from the United Nations that Afghanistan could turn into a failed narco-state.

Bush also expressed "deep concerns about heroin and methamphetamine linked to North Korea being trafficked to East Asian countries; the high likelihood state agents and enterprises in North Korea are involved in the narcotics trade; and that there are clear indications that North Koreans traffic in, and probably manufacture, methamphetamine.

Two North Korean defectors in July accused Pyongyang of being directly linked to a 165 million Australian dollar (116 million US) haul of heroin seized off Australia's southeast last year.

They told Australian television there was no doubt the hermit nation was involved in drug running and the haul seized in Victoria state.

A US expert on North Korea and international affairs said it was clear the Stalinist dictatorship was effectively run on the foreign currency gained from illegal activities.

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