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US Senators push to punish North Korea
2009-07-08
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Senators on Wednesday introduced a bill to impose new economic sanctions on North Korea, return it to a US terrorism blacklist, and expand US military cooperation with South Korea and Japan. "The North Korean regime, led by Kim Jong Il, for years has brutally oppressed its own citizens and terrorized other nations," said Republican Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, the legislation's lead author. "The United States must take bold, unequivocal action to hold this regime accountable and to end its reign of terror in North Korea," said Brownback, a frequent and sharp critic of the regime, especially on human rights issues. The legislation came as US President Barack Obama's administration sought support for tough enforcement of UN sanctions aimed at shutting down Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs. The lawmakers cited North Korea's nuclear and missile tests and its detention of two US journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, whom a North Korean court sentence on June 8 to 12 years in prison. The legislation notably directs the US State Department to redesignate North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism, reactivating sanctions lifted when Washington took Pyongyang off the blacklist in October. It also directs the US Treasury Department to prohibit any US bank from doing business with a foreign bank seen as engaging in a financial transaction with the government of North Korea or one of its senior officials. And it calls on the White House to bolster US military cooperation with South Korea and Japan, including by selling advanced US military hardware to Tokyo, listing Aegis radar systems, various missile defenses, and a variant of the F-22 fighter jet. The new bill "rightly restores an appropriate policy toward an aggressive North Korean regime, especially given its recent nuclear and missile tests, as well as its refusal to participate in the six-party process," said Republican Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, the Senate's number two Republican. "It is critical that North Korea be held accountable for their increasingly hostile and erratic behavior," said Republican Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, another backer of the legislation. The North test-fired seven ballistic missiles on Saturday in an act of defiance amid US efforts to try to tighten financial sanctions on the country. The tests, apparently timed to coincided with the US Independence Day holiday, were its biggest salvo of ballistic weaponry since the same day in 2006. Pyongyang carried out a nuclear test on May 25.
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