A bipartisan group of U.S. congressmen has submitted legislation to re-designate North Korea as a terror state sponsor for its provocations against South Korea last year.

Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, submitted on Friday the bill that seeks to "continue restrictions against and prohibit diplomatic recognition of the Government of North Korea, and for other purposes."

The H.R. 1321 bill urges reinstating North Korea on the terrorism blacklist for its torpedoing of the South Korean warship Cheonan, shelling of the border island Yeonpyeong, and attempted assassination of former high-ranking North Korean official Hwang Jang-yop who defected to the South.