[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 92 Engrossed in House (EH)]

<DOC>
H. Res. 92

                In the House of Representatives, U. S.,

                                                         April 3, 2017.
Whereas the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), also known as North 
        Korea, possesses a ballistic missile and nuclear weapons development 
        program that poses a grave threat to the United States, United States 
        allies South Korea and Japan, and to regional and global security;
Whereas North Korea's ballistic missile program has demonstrated an increasing 
        ability to reach the United States, which constitutes a credible and 
        growing threat to the security of the American people;
Whereas North Korea has demonstrated a willingness and ability to proliferate 
        its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons technology to a variety of 
        countries, including the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Syrian Arab 
        Republic, which the United States has designated as state sponsors of 
        terrorism;
Whereas, on January 6, 2016, North Korea detonated a nuclear device, marking its 
        fourth nuclear test to date;
Whereas, on February 7, 2016, North Korea, utilizing a modified version of the 
        Taepodong-2 ballistic missile, launched a ``satellite'' into space;
Whereas according to the U.S. Intelligence Community's 2016 Worldwide Threat 
        Assessment, North Korea is ``committed to developing a long-range, 
        nuclear-armed missile that is capable of posing a direct threat to the 
        United States; it has publicly displayed its KN08 road-mobile ICBM on 
        multiple occasions'';
Whereas, on April 28, 2016, Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a 
        hearing before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of 
        Representatives, testified ``the benefits of [the trilateral] 
        relationship are crystal clear in the face of the region's most acute 
        challenge--the challenge from North Korea and its provocative acts in 
        the nuclear missile domain'';
Whereas, on August 24, 2016, North Korea successfully tested a submarine-
        launched ballistic missile, firing the missile over 300 miles from a 
        submerged submarine;
Whereas, on September 9, 2016, North Korea conducted its fifth nuclear test, 
        which it claimed was a warhead that could be miniaturized for its 
        ballistic missiles;
Whereas, on September 15, 2016, Admiral Harry Harris, Commander of U.S. Pacific 
        Command, stated ``Combining nuclear warheads with ballistic missile 
        technology in the hands of a volatile leader like Kim Jong-un, is a 
        recipe for disaster.'';
Whereas, on September 16, 2016, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter stated 
        ``Everyone can see that North Korea is determined to try to expand its 
        missile threat to the peninsula, to the region, and to the United 
        States.'';
Whereas in 2016 North Korea willfully and repeatedly violated multiple United 
        Nations Security Council resolutions, through its nuclear tests, missile 
        tests, and satellite launch;
Whereas, on January 6, 2017, Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated 
        that North Korea had conducted 24 missile tests in the past year, as 
        well as two nuclear tests and ``in our assessment, we have a qualitative 
        improvement in their capabilities in the past year as a result of this 
        unprecedented level of activity'';
Whereas, on January 8, 2017, North Korea declared that it is ready to test-
        launch an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM);
Whereas, on February 11, 2017, North Korea launched an intermediate-range 
        ballistic missile off its eastern coast while President Donald Trump 
        hosted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on an official visit to the 
        United States;
Whereas, on February 18, 2017, the People's Republic of China announced that it 
        would suspend all coal imports from North Korea, a significant source of 
        revenue to the North Korean regime;
Whereas, on February 27, 2017, the United Nations Panel of Experts on North 
        Korea determined that ``The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is 
        flouting sanctions through trade in prohibited goods, with evasion 
        techniques that are increasing in scale, scope and sophistication.'';
Whereas, on March 6, 2017, North Korea launched four intermediate range 
        missiles, three of which landed approximately 200 miles off the coast of 
        Japan;
Whereas South Korea and the United States have made an alliance decision to 
        deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system as a self-
        defensive measure to ensure the security of South Korea and its people, 
        and to protect alliance military forces from the growing threat of North 
        Korea's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program; and
Whereas a nuclear North Korea with a functional and operational intercontinental 
        ballistic missile program would pose a direct threat to the United 
        States and United States interests: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) condemns North Korea's development of multiple intercontinental 
        ballistic missiles (ICBMs);
            (2) welcomes the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area 
        Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea to counter North Korea's missile 
        threat, which supports an alliance security decision;
            (3) urges the Government of the People's Republic of China to 
        immediately cease its diplomatic intimidation and economic coercion 
        against South Korea in an attempt to block the THAAD deployment;
            (4) reaffirms the United States support for a layered, integrated, 
        multi-tier missile defense system to protect Americans and allies in 
        Northeast Asia;
            (5) supports continued bilateral security cooperation between the 
        United States and South Korea and the consideration of additional 
        measures to strengthen the alliance, including expanded foreign military 
        sales, joint exercises, and other actions as appropriate;
            (6) reaffirms, in view of the ICBM threat by North Korea, the 
        commitment of the United States to its alliances and to trilateral 
        cooperation with South Korea and Japan, which is critical for the 
        preservation of peace and stability in Northeast Asia and throughout the 
        world;
            (7) supports and urges the full implementation of the intelligence 
        sharing agreement between Japan and South Korea signed on November 23, 
        2016, concerning the direct exchange of intelligence on North Korean 
        threats;
            (8) calls upon the People's Republic of China to use its 
        considerable leverage to pressure North Korean leaders to cease their 
        provocative behavior and abandon and dismantle their nuclear and missile 
        programs, and comply with all relevant United Nations Security Council 
        resolutions;
            (9) calls on the United States to fully enforce all existing 
        economic sanctions on North Korea and to seek to continuously adapt the 
        sanctions regime to address evasive techniques employed by the North 
        Korean regime; and
            (10) calls on the Secretary of State to undertake a comprehensive 
        and rigorous diplomatic effort to urge allies and other countries to 
        fully enforce, and build upon, existing international sanctions on North 
        Korea.
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.