[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 673 Introduced in House (IH)]
113th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 673
To continue restrictions against and prohibit diplomatic recognition of
the Government of North Korea, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 13, 2013
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen (for herself, Mr. Chabot, Mr. Connolly, Mr. Lance, Mr.
Franks of Arizona, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Mr. Bilirakis, Mr.
Weber of Texas, and Mr. Duncan of South Carolina) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs,
and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To continue restrictions against and prohibit diplomatic recognition of
the Government of North Korea, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``North Korea Sanctions and Diplomatic
Nonrecognition Act of 2013''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) North Korean negotiators in the Six-Party diplomatic
process did not act in good faith by their refusal to agree to
a transparent verification process for denuclearization
consistent with ``international standards'', including
provisions for nuclear sampling, following North Korea's
removal on October 11, 2008, from the list of state sponsors of
terrorism maintained by the Department of State.
(2) International press reports indicate that North Korea
has continued to provide support to Iran in the areas of
missile technology and nuclear development and has provided
Iran's surrogates, Hezbollah and Hamas, with both missile
technology and training in tunneling techniques with which to
attack Israel, an ally of the United States.
(3) International press reports indicate that North Korea
was engaged for a number of years in assistance to Syria in the
construction of a nuclear reactor in the Syrian desert which
was destroyed in a strike by Israeli forces on September 6,
2007.
(4) North Korean negotiators continue to refuse to address
in a humane and sincere manner the issue of the abduction of
civilians of Japan and the Republic of Korea, both allies of
the United States, as well as the abductions of citizens from a
number of other countries, including France, Lebanon, Romania,
and Thailand.
(5) Defectors coming out of North Korea have provided
testimony that United States permanent resident, Reverend Kim
Dong-shik, the spouse and father of United States citizens, was
tortured and murdered inside North Korea after his abduction by
Pyongyang's agents on the Chinese border in January 2000 and
that his remains are currently being held at a military
facility inside North Korea.
(6) Congress authoritatively expressed its view, in section
202(b)(2) of the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 (Public
Law 108-333; 22 U.S.C. 7832(b)(2)) that ``United States
nonhumanitarian assistance to North Korea shall be contingent
on North Korea's substantial progress'' on human rights
improvements, release of and accounting for abductees, family
reunification, reform of North Korea's labor camp system, and
the decriminalization of political expression, none of which
has occurred.
(7) Congress further authoritatively expressed its view, in
section 2 of the North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act
of 2008 (Public Law 110-346) that ``human rights and
humanitarian conditions inside North Korea are deplorable'' and
that ``North Korean refugees remain acutely vulnerable''.
(8) Congress has determined that any missile test or launch
conducted by North Korea would be in direct violation of United
Nations Security Council resolution 1695, adopted on July 16,
2006, which ``condemns the multiple launches by the DPRK (North
Korea) of ballistic missiles on July 5 2006 local time'', and
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1718, adopted on
October 9, 2006, which ``demands that the DPRK (North Korea)
not conduct any further nuclear test or launch of a ballistic
missile'' and ``decides that the DPRK shall suspend all
activities related to its ballistic missile programme and in
this context re-establish its pre-existing commitments to a
moratorium on missile launching'', and further determines that
the resulting sanctions imposed under such resolution 1718
would again come into full effect following a missile test or
launch.
(9) Congress has further determined that a return by North
Korea to the Six-Party diplomatic process following any missile
test or launch by Pyongyang must include a firm and transparent
commitment to the complete, verifiable and irreversible
dismantlement of all of North Korea's nuclear programs,
including those derived both from plutonium as well as highly
enriched uranium.
(10) Japanese press reports have indicated that a
delegation of approximately fifteen Iranian missile experts
arrived in North Korea in March 2009 ``to help Pyongyang
prepare for a rocket launch'', including senior officials with
the Iranian rocket and satellite producer Shahid Hemmat
Industrial Group, and that they brought with them a letter from
their President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to North Korean leader Kim
Jong-Il stressing the importance of cooperating on space
technology.
(11) North Korea, in defiance of the international
community's efforts to end nuclear proliferation and in
violation of its international obligations, conducted a second
underground nuclear test on May 25, 2009 (local time), in
violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1718,
which resulted in the passage of United Nations Security
Council Resolution 1874 on June 12, 2009, which imposed
additional sanctions and inspection requirements with regard to
North Korea.
(12) North Korea, according to Western press reports,
transshipped missile parts, used to run Iran's solid fuel
ballistic missile program, to Tehran via Air Iran flights which
landed in Beijing, China in 2007.
(13) Press reports in March 2011 indicated that opposition
forces in Libya, when they took positions from Qaddafi forces,
discovered North Korean weapons caches, including rockets and
anti-aircraft guns, unpacked from crates labeled ``bulldozer
parts,'' which would represent a clear violation of United
Nations sanctions.
(14) On August 16, 2012, the President signed into law the
Ambassador James R. Lilley and Congressman Stephen J. Solarz
North Korea Human Rights Reauthorization Act of 2012 (Public
Law 112-172).
(15) Congress further authoritatively expressed its view in
section 2 of Public Law 112-172 that ``although the transition
to the leadership of Kim Jong-Un after the death of Kim Jong-Il
has introduced new uncertainties and possibilities, the
fundamental human rights and humanitarian conditions inside
North Korea remain deplorable, North Korean refugees remain
acutely vulnerable, and the findings in the 2004 Act and 2008
Reauthorization remain substantially accurate today.''.
(16) Notwithstanding the succession of Kim Jong-Un as
supreme leader of North Korea following the death of his father
in December 2011, Pyongyang has continued a policy of
horrendous human rights violations, including the issuance of
new ``shoot to kill'' orders for refugees attempting to cross
the border into China and an increased reliance on public
executions to intimidate the North Korean populace.
(17) The new Kim Jong-Un regime also displayed duplicity in
its negotiations with the United States and other Six-Party
partners by launching a missile in April 2012 in direct
violation of its ``Leap Day Agreement'' to carry out a
moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests.
(18) Pyongyang defied the international community and
relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions by
launching a long-range missile on December 12, 2012, resulting
in the unanimous passage of United Nations Security Council
Resolution 2087 on January 22, 2013.
(19) The regime in Pyongyang further defied the
international community and relevant United Nations Security
Council resolutions by conducting a nuclear test on February
12, 2013.
(20) According to the United States Geological Survey,
seismic activity was detected in North Korea with an earthquake
measuring 4.9 magnitude, larger than the 2006 and 2009
explosions, and the epicenter of the quake was close to a North
Korean nuclear test site.
SEC. 3. CONTINUATION OF RESTRICTIONS AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT OF NORTH
KOREA.
(a) Finding.--Congress finds that subsequent to the decision of the
Secretary of State on October 11, 2008, to rescind the designation of
North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism, North Korea has committed
acts that can be defined as international terrorism or as highly
provocative, including--
(1) the dispatch of a covert team of two North Korean
military-trained agents to South Korea with orders to
assassinate the late North Korean defector Hwang Jang-yop who
were apprehended by South Korean officials in April 2010;
(2) complicity in the sinking of the South Korean naval
vessel Cheonan on March 26, 2010, which resulted in the deaths
of 46 South Korean naval personnel;
(3) the shipment of weapons by North Korea, seized in
Bangkok in December 2009, which were bound for delivery to
foreign terrorist organizations Hezbollah and Hamas, according
to a statement made by Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor
Lieberman in Tokyo on May 12, 2010;
(4) the sudden and unprovoked bombardment by North Korean
artillery of the civilian-populated South Korean island of
Yeonpyeong-do on November 23, 2010, which resulted in the
deaths of two South Korean civilians and two Republic of Korea
(ROK) marines; and
(5) the sentencing by Seoul Central District Court in
January 2011 of North Korean agent Ri Dong Sam to 10 years in
prison for impersonating a refugee in August 2010 to enter
South Korea under orders to assassinate leading North Korean
defector Hwang Jang-yop.
(b) Continuation of Restrictions.--Notwithstanding the decision by
the Secretary of State on October 11, 2008, to rescind the designation
of North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism, and in light of the
congressional finding described in subsection (a), restrictions against
the Government of North Korea that were imposed by reason of a
determination of the Secretary of State that the Government of North
Korea is a state sponsor of terrorism, as well as sanctions against the
Government of North Korea (including sanctions that ban the importation
into the United States of North Korean products and goods), that are in
effect as of the date of the enactment of this Act shall remain in
effect, and shall not be lifted, unless the President makes the
certification described in subsection (c).
(c) Certification.--The certification referred to in subsection (b)
is a certification to Congress containing a determination of the
President that the Government of North Korea--
(1) is no longer engaged in the illegal transfer of missile
or nuclear technology, particularly to the governments of Iran,
Syria, or any other state sponsor of terrorism, or to Burma;
(2) is no longer engaged in training in combat operations
or tunneling, or harboring, supplying, financing, or supporting
in any way--
(A) Hamas, Hezbollah, the Japanese Red Army, or any
member of such organizations;
(B) any organization designated by the Secretary of
State as a foreign terrorist organization in accordance
with section 219(a) of the Immigration and Nationality
Act (8 U.S.C. 1189(a)); and
(C) any person included on the annex to Executive
Order 13224 (September 21, 2001) and any other person
identified under section 1 of that Executive Order
whose property and interests are blocked by that
section (commonly known as a ``specially designated
global terrorist'');
(3) is no longer engaged in the counterfeiting of United
States currency ``supernotes'';
(4) is no longer engaged in the international trafficking
of illicit narcotics into the United States, Japan, Australia,
or other allied countries of the United States;
(5) has returned the last remains of United States
permanent resident, Reverend Kim Dong-shik, to his United
States citizen widow, family, and church members, so that he
may be provided with a proper Christian burial in Chicago;
(6) has released the Japanese nationals recognized as
abduction victims by the Government of Japan as well as
abduction victims recognized by the Government of the Republic
of Korea;
(7) has released an estimated 600 surviving South Korean
POWs, and any other surviving POWs from the Korean War, who
have been held in North Korea against their will and in
violation of the Armistice Agreement since hostilities ended in
July 1953;
(8) has made concrete provisions for unrestricted family
reunification meetings for those individuals among the two-
million strong Korean-American community who maintain family
ties with relatives inside North Korea;
(9) has opened the North Korean penal system, including the
gulag of concentration camps holding an estimated 200,000
political and religious prisoners, to unrestricted and regular
visits by representatives of the International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC);
(10) has made provision for unrestricted and regular access
by representatives of the United National High Commissioner for
Refugees to refugees forcibly repatriated to North Korea to
determine their general health and welfare;
(11) has made concrete provisions for unrestricted contact,
including direct communications and meetings, between
representatives of international and South Korean religious
organizations, including Christians and Buddhists, and their
co-believers inside North Korea; and
(12) has offered apologies to the government and people of
the Republic of Korea for the deaths that North Korea inflicted
due to the unprovoked attacks on the South Korean naval vessel
Cheonan on March 26, 2010, and on the island of Yeonpyeong-do
on November 23, 2010.
(d) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that, in light
of the congressional finding described in subsection (a), the Secretary
of State should redesignate North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism
immediately upon the date of the enactment of this Act.
(e) State Sponsor of Terrorism Defined.--In this section, the term
``state sponsor of terrorism'' means any country the government of
which the Secretary of State determines has repeatedly provided support
for acts of international terrorism pursuant to section 6(j) of the
Export Administration Act of 1979 (as continued in effect pursuant to
the International Emergency Economic Powers Act), section 40 of the
Arms Export Control Act, section 620A of the Foreign Assistance Act of
1961, or any other provision of law.
SEC. 4. CONTINUATION OF DIPLOMATIC NONRECOGNITION OF NORTH KOREA.
(a) Finding.--Congress finds that the United States did not grant
diplomatic recognition to North Korea upon its establishment as a
client regime of the former Soviet Union in 1948. The United States has
consistently continued to withhold such formal diplomatic recognition
during the 61 years since the sudden and unprovoked attack by North
Korean forces on the Republic of Korea on June 25, 1950, an attack
which led directly to the Korean War and the deaths of over 36,000
United States military personnel as well as at least 2,000,000 Koreans
and over 3,000 soldiers from Allied countries.
(b) Continuation of Diplomatic Nonrecognition.--No funds may be
expended for the establishment of a United States diplomatic presence
in North Korea, including an Embassy, Consulate, or liaison office,
until such time as the President certifies to Congress that the
Government of North Korea has met all of the benchmarks specified in
section 3.
SEC. 5. INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE TO A NORTH KOREAN MISSILE LAUNCH OR
NUCLEAR TEST.
Given North Korea's third nuclear weapons test on February 12,
2013, in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1695,
1718, 1874, and 2087, the President shall instruct the United States
Permanent Representative to the United Nations to use the voice, vote,
and influence of the United States to secure adoption of a United
Nations Security Council resolution condemning North Korea's action as
a violation of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1695, 1718,
1874, and 2087 and requiring the implementation of comprehensive
sanctions and an inspection regime against North Korea.
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