Anchor: Amid growing indications of North Korea’s imminent sixth nuclear test, the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee has passed a set of bills and resolutions aimed at increasing pressure on Pyongyang and its allies. The moves are sending a strong signal against the North’s threats of provocations.
Alannah Hill has this report.
 
Report: A bill aimed at toughening sanctions on North Korea and a bill to re-designate North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism were both passed by the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday.
 
As well as these bills, a bipartisan resolution denouncing the North’s test of a new intercontinental ballistic missile last month was also approved.
 
The House committee was determined to swiftly approve the bills, including the sanctions bill that was introduced only eight days earlier.
 
U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce said better enforcing sanctions is a good way to respond to Kim Jong-un’s dangerous provocations in the region.

[Sound bite: U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce]
“Pyongyang is using increasingly sophisticated technics to evade existing sanctions including through dealing with middlemen and other countries.”
 
The sanctions bill, also known as the Korean Interdiction and Modernization of Sanctions Act, calls for the U.S. government to impose new sanctions on Pyongyang, including blocking the shipments of crude oil and petroleum products to the North. 
 
The bill also bans the employment of North Korean workers by foreign individuals, while denying financial messaging services to designated North Korean financial institutions.
 
The North Korea State Sponsor of Terrorism Designation Act is intended to put the regime back on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism nine years after its removal from the sanctions list.
 
The efforts to re-designate the North as a terrorism sponsor have accelerated since the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s half-brother Kim Jong-un in Malaysia on February 13th, which is suspected to be an assassination arranged by Pyongyang.
 
The resolution condemning North Korea’s missile development is also denouncing Beijing for its retaliatory measures on South Korea over the scheduled installment of U.S. THAAD antimissile interceptors. The resolution is urging China to immediately stop those punitive actions.
 
It is rare that as many as three bills or resolutions concerning North Korea passed the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee in a single day, an indication that Washington is viewing the North’s nuclear and missile provocations as serious and imminent threats. 
Alannah Hill, KBS World Radio News

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