[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 479 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
115th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 479
To require a report on the designation of the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 12, 2017
Mr. Poe of Texas (for himself and Mr. Sherman) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require a report on the designation of the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism, 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 State Sponsor of
Terrorism Designation Act of 2017''.
SEC. 2. REPORT ON DESIGNATION OF GOVERNMENT OF NORTH KOREA AS A STATE
SPONSOR OF TERRORISM.
(a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) The Government of North Korea was designated a state
sponsor of terrorism on January 20, 1988, for repeatedly
providing support of acts of international terrorism.
(2) However, on October 11, 2008, North Korea's designation
as a state sponsor of terrorism was rescinded, following
commitments by the Government of North Korea to completely,
verifiably, and irreversibly dismantle its nuclear weapons
program, yet North Korea has failed to live up to these
commitments and is continuing to produce ever greater
quantities of fissile material for nuclear weapons and
periodically conduct testing of nuclear explosive devices.
(3) Consequences of a state sponsors of terrorism
designation include a ban on arms-related exports and sales;
restrictions on exports of dual-use items; restrictions on
foreign assistance; financial sanctions against transactions
with the designated government; imposition of miscellaneous
trade and other restrictions; and potential liability in United
States courts for acts that fall within the terrorism exception
of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. The criminal code also
prohibits financial transactions by United States persons with
any government designated as a state sponsor of terrorism.
Issuers of securities must disclose in their public filings any
investments in states whose governments sponsor terrorism.
Finally, a designation requires United States representatives
to oppose any benefits or extensions of credit to any
designated government by international financial institutions.
(4) On October 22, 2015, Ambassador Sung Kim, Special
Representative for North Korea Policy with the U.S. Department
of State, testified before the House Foreign Affairs
Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade that
North Korea's ``conduct poses a growing threat to the United
States, our friends in the region, and the global
nonproliferation regime'' and Ms. Hilary Batjer Johnson, Deputy
Coordinator for Homeland Security, Screening, and Designations
with the U.S. Department of State noted that ``weapons
transfers that violate nonproliferation or missile control
regimes could be a relevant factor for consideration, depending
on the circumstances, consistent with the statutory criteria
for designation as a state sponsor of terrorism''.
(5) The Government of North Korea has harbored members of
the Japanese Red Army since a 1970 hijacking and continues to
harbor the surviving hijackers to this day.
(6) On July 16, 2010, in the case of Calderon-Cardona v.
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (case number 08-01367),
the United States District Court for the District of Puerto
Rico found that the Government of North Korea provided material
support to the Japanese Red Army, designated as a foreign
terrorist organization between 1997 and 2001, in furtherance of
a 1972 terrorist attack at Lod Airport, Israel that killed 26
people, including 17 Americans.
(7) On April 18, 2013, Michael Flynn, the Director of the
Defense Intelligence Agency testified that Syria's liquid-
propellant missile program depends on essential foreign
equipment and assistance, primarily from North Korean entities.
Further statements by United States Government officials report
that North Korea helped Syria build the Al Kibar nuclear
reactor, which Israel reportedly destroyed in 2007, and could
have been used to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons.
(8) Of the three foreign governments currently designated
as state sponsors of terrorism, the governments of Iran and
Syria are designated as state sponsors of terrorism for their
support of Hamas and Hezbollah. The Department of State's 2005,
2007, 2010, 2012, and 2013 ``Country Reports'' all cited Iran
and Syria for supplying weapons to Hezbollah through Syrian
territory, and most of them also cited Iran's training of
Hezbollah.
(9) In the case of Chaim Kaplan v. Hezbollah (case number
09-646), a United States district court found in 2014 that
North Korea materially supported terrorist attacks by
Hezbollah, a designated foreign terrorist organization, against
Israel in 2006.
(10) In December 2009, a North Korean arms shipment aboard
an Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane was discovered and seized by
authorities of the Government of Thailand. The cargo, which was
marked as consisting of oil-drilling equipment, contained 35
tons of rockets, surface-to-air missiles (MANPADS), explosives,
rocket-propelled grenades, and other weaponry. A similar
shipment was impounded in the United Arab Emirates a few months
earlier in July 2009. A third shipment was intercepted by the
Israeli government in the Eastern Mediterranean in November
2009. According to published media reports, United States and
Israeli intelligence agencies concluded that the shipments were
destined for Iranian-backed terrorists, including Hezbollah,
Hamas, and the Quds Force. Another large quantity of shipments
to both Hamas and Hezbollah, is believed to have been
transferred unnoticed.
(11) In June 2010, Major Kim Myong-ho and Major Dong Myong-
gwan of North Korea's Reconnaissance General Bureau pled guilty
in a South Korean court to attempting to assassinate Hwang
Jang-yop, a North Korean dissident in exile, on the orders of
Lieutenant General Kim Yong-chol, the head of North Korea's
Reconnaissance General Bureau. The court sentenced each
defendant to 10 years in prison.
(12) In July 2014, press reports indicated that militants
from Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist organization,
attempted to negotiate a new arms deal with North Korea for
missiles and communications equipment that would have allowed
the militants to maintain their armed terrorist attacks against
Israel. Security officials announced that the deal between
Hamas and North Korea was worth hundreds of thousands of
dollars and was handled by a Lebanese-based trading company.
(13) On November 24, 2014, a hacker group that identified
itself as the ``Guardians of Peace'' leaked confidential data
from the film studio Sony Pictures Entertainment. The data
included personal information about Sony Pictures employees, e-
mails between employees, information about executive salaries
at the company, copies of then-unreleased Sony films, and other
information.
(14) On December 16, 2015, the ``Guardians of Peace'' sent
a message to Sony Pictures, to ``clearly show it to you at the
very time and places `The Interview' be shown . . . how bitter
fate those who seek fun in terror should be doomed to''. The
message further stated, ``The world will be full of fear'',
``[. . .] Remember the 11th of September 2001'', and ``We
recommend you to keep yourself distant from the places at that
time.''. The threat caused theaters across the United States to
cancel showings of ``The Interview'' and caused Sony Pictures
to cancel the release of the film in theaters.
(15) On December 19, 2015, the Federal Bureau of
Investigation concluded that North Korea was responsible for
the cyber attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment and the threat
against the movie theaters, and that the ``Guardians of Peace''
was a unit of North Korea's Reconnaissance General Bureau, its
foreign intelligence service.
(16) In March 2015, the South Korean government publicly
accused North Korea of responsibility for a December 2014 cyber
attack against multiple nuclear power plants in South Korea,
stated that the attacks were intended to cause a malfunction at
the plants' reactors, and described the attacks as acts of
``cyber-terror targeting our country''.
(b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of the Congress that the
Government of North Korea likely meets the criteria for designation as
a state sponsor of terrorism and, if so, should be so designated. North
Korea has failed to live up to its 2008 commitments to verifiably
dismantle its nuclear weapons program and appears to have continued to
support acts of international terrorism after its removal from the list
of state sponsors of terrorism in October 2008.
(c) Report; Determination or Justification.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 90 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit
to the appropriate congressional committees a report that finds
whether--
(A)(i) with respect to each of the acts described
in paragraphs (5) through (16) of subsection (a), the
Government of North Korea, including any agents or
instrumentalities of the Government of North Korea,
directly or indirectly, committed, conspired to commit,
attempted, aided, or abetted such act; and
(ii) since October 2008, the Government of North
Korea, including any agents or instrumentalities of the
Government of North Korea, directly or indirectly,
committed, conspired to commit, attempted, aided, or
abetted any other act of international terrorism,
including through--
(I) support for any organization designated
as a foreign terrorist organization, any entity
designated pursuant to Executive Order 13224,
or any entity that otherwise supports acts of
international terrorism;
(II) direct sponsorship of acts of
international terrorism; or
(III) the provision of armaments or other
controlled goods, services, or technology to
any country the government of which is
designated as a state sponsor of terrorism; and
(B) such act constitutes support for international
terrorism.
(2) Determination or justification.--If the Secretary of
State finds that the Government of North Korea, including any
agents or instrumentalities of the Government of North Korea,
directly or indirectly, committed, conspired to commit,
attempted, aided, or abetted any act described in clause (i) or
(ii) of paragraph (1)(A) and such act constitutes support for
international terrorism under paragraph (1)(B), the Secretary
shall make a determination of whether, based on the information
in the report and all other relevant sources, the Government of
North Korea meets the criteria for designation as a state
sponsor or terrorism, and in the event the Secretary does not
decide to designate the Government of North Korea a state
sponsor of terrorism, the Secretary shall provide a detailed
justification for why the Government of North Korea should not
be designated a state sponsor of terrorism.
(d) Form.--The report required by subsection (c)(1) shall be
submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex, if
appropriate.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(A) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the
Senate; and
(B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House
of Representatives.
(2) Foreign terrorist organization.--The term ``foreign
terrorist organization'' means an organization designated by
the Secretary of State as a foreign terrorist organization
under section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8
U.S.C. 1189).
(3) North korea.--The term ``North Korea'' means the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
(4) State sponsor of terrorism.--The term ``state sponsor
of terrorism'' means a country the government of which the
Secretary of State has determined, for purposes of section 6(j)
of the Export Administration Act of 1979 (50 U.S.C. 4605(j))
(as in effect pursuant to the International Emergency Economic
Powers Act), section 620A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961
(22 U.S.C. 2371), section 40 of the Arms Export Control Act (22
U.S.C. 2780), or any other provision of law, is a government
that has repeatedly provided support for acts of international
terrorism.
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