[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 204 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 204

To continue restrictions against and prohibit diplomatic recognition of 
         the Government of North Korea, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 8, 2015

 Ms. Ros-Lehtinen (for herself, Mr. Connolly, Mr. Salmon, Mr. Chabot, 
and Mr. Poe of Texas) 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 2015''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) On January 2, 2015, the President issued Executive 
        Order 13687 imposing additional sanctions with respect to North 
        Korea which stated that ``the provocative, destabilizing, and 
        repressive actions and policies of the Government of North 
        Korea, including its destructive, coercive cyber-related 
        actions during November and December 2014, actions in violation 
        of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1718, 1874, 
        2087, and 2094, and commission of serious human rights abuses, 
        constitute a continuing threat to the national security, 
        foreign policy, and economy of the United States''.
            (2) On January 2, 2015, the Department of the Treasury 
        stated that Executive Order 13687 was ``in response to the 
        Government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's 
        numerous provocations, particularly the recent cyber-attack 
        targeting Sony Pictures Entertainment and the threats against 
        movie theaters and moviegoers''.
            (3) On January 2, 2015, White House Press Secretary Josh 
        Earnest stated that ``[Executive Order 13687] is a response to 
        the Government of North Korea's ongoing provocative, 
        destabilizing, and repressive actions and policies, 
        particularly its destructive and coercive cyber attack on Sony 
        Pictures Entertainment.''.
            (4) On December 29, 2014, the Federal Bureau of 
        Investigation stated that it ``has concluded the Government of 
        North Korea is responsible for the theft and destruction of 
        data on the network of Sony Pictures Entertainment''.
            (5) On December 19, 2014, the Federal Bureau of 
        Investigation stated that it ``has enough information to 
        conclude that the North Korean government is responsible'' for 
        the cyber attack targeting Sony Pictures Entertainment on 
        November 22, 2014.
            (6) On July 30, 2014, the Department of the Treasury 
        imposed sanctions on two North Korean shipping companies, and 
        18 of their vessels, that ``attempted to import a concealed 
        shipment of arms and related materiel from Cuba to the DPRK 
        aboard the DPRK-flagged vessel Chong Chon Gang in July 2013''.
            (7) On July 28, 2014, the United Nations Security Council's 
        DPRK Sanctions Committee sanctioned the North Korea shipping 
        company, Ocean Maritime Management Company, for its ``key role 
        in arranging the shipment of concealed arms and related 
        materiel from Cuba to the DPRK in July 2013'' and stated that 
        the company ``contributed to activities prohibited by the 
        resolutions, namely the arms embargo imposed by resolution 1718 
        (2006), as modified by resolution 1874 (2009), and contributed 
        to the evasion of the measures imposed by these resolutions''.
            (8) On July 28, 2014, the United States Permanent 
        Representative to the United Nations, Samantha Power, stated 
        that the attempted arms shipment was a ``cynical, outrageous 
        and illegal attempt by Cuba and North Korea to circumvent 
        United Nations Sanctions prohibiting the export of weapons to 
        North Korea'' and that the United Nations Security Council's 
        DPRK Sanctions Committee had ``uncovered irrefutable facts that 
        clearly prove Cuba and the DPRK's intentions to violate 
        sanctions by employing highly sophisticated deception and 
        obfuscation techniques, including Cuba's false claims about the 
        transaction being a routine repair effort when detected by 
        Panamanian and UN authorities''.
            (9) 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.
            (10) 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.
            (11) 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.
            (12) 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.
            (13) 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.
            (14) 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.
            (15) 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''.
            (16) 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.
            (17) 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.
            (18) 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.
            (19) 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.
            (20) 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.
            (21) 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.
            (22) 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).
            (23) 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''.
            (24) 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.
            (25) 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.
            (26) 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.
            (27) 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.
            (28) 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;
            (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; and
            (6) North Korea's ``numerous provocations, particularly the 
        recent cyber-attack targeting Sony Pictures Entertainment and 
        the threats against movie theaters and moviegoers,'' as 
        described by the Department of the Treasury on January 2, 2015.
    (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 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;
            (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; and
            (13) is no longer engaged in cyber-attacks against the 
        United States, its government, infrastructure, entities, or 
        citizens, or those of its allies.
    (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.
                                 <all>