[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 361 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 361

 Expressing the sense of the Senate that the United States Government 
  shall, both unilaterally and alongside the international community, 
 consider all options for exerting maximum pressure on the Democratic 
 People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), in order to denuclearize the DPRK, 
  protect the lives of United States citizens and allies, and prevent 
               further proliferation of nuclear weapons.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           December 14, 2017

   Mr. Cornyn (for himself, Mr. McCain, Mr. Sullivan, Mr. Rubio, Mr. 
Risch, Mr. Tillis, Mr. Strange, and Mr. Inhofe) submitted the following 
  resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the Senate that the United States Government 
  shall, both unilaterally and alongside the international community, 
 consider all options for exerting maximum pressure on the Democratic 
 People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), in order to denuclearize the DPRK, 
  protect the lives of United States citizens and allies, and prevent 
               further proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Whereas the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is a brutal Communist 
        regime that has consistently pursued a nuclear weapons program since the 
        early 1960s;
Whereas the DPRK has a long history of humanitarian abuses against its own 
        people;
Whereas in the 1970s and 1980s, the DPRK kidnapped foreign nationals from 
        countries including Japan, South Korea, China, France, and Italy to 
        train DPRK spies;
Whereas the DPRK has unjustly detained visiting United States citizens, 
        including Otto Warmbier, who died after being detained for more than a 
        year;
Whereas the DPRK and Republic of Korea (ROK) in 1992 signed a Joint Declaration 
        on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, promising to cease 
        testing and production of nuclear weapons;
Whereas the United States agreed to provide energy assistance to the DPRK in 
        exchange for a nuclear-free Korean peninsula in 1994;
Whereas the United States Government revealed in October 2002 that the DPRK 
        admitted operating a secret nuclear weapons program in violation of 
        agreements and international commitments;
Whereas, following six-party talks in 2005, the DPRK agreed to abandon its 
        nuclear weapons program in exchange for energy assistance, economic 
        cooperation, and steps toward normalization with the United States and 
        Japan;
Whereas the DPRK proceeded to conduct multiple missile tests and its first 
        nuclear weapons test in 2006;
Whereas the DPRK agreed to disable its nuclear facilities in exchange for energy 
        assistance in February 2007 and ``to provide a complete and correct 
        declaration of its nuclear programs'' in October 2007, but ultimately 
        did not fulfill its commitment;
Whereas the DPRK tested a long-range missile directed at the United States in 
        2009;
Whereas the DPRK attacked and sunk the South Korean ship Cheonan, murdering 46 
        sailors in 2010;
Whereas DPRK forces fired approximately 170 artillery shells and rockets at 
        Yeonpyeong Island, hitting ROK military and civilian targets and killing 
        two ROK marines and two civilians in November 2010;
Whereas the DPRK agreed to cease long-range missile and nuclear tests in 
        exchange for United States food aid in February 2012;
Whereas the DPRK proceeded to test yet another long-range missile in April 2012;
Whereas the DPRK has conducted almost three times the number of ballistic 
        missile and nuclear weapons tests during Kim Jong-un's six years in 
        power than in the nearly 60 years before him under Kim Il-sung and Kim 
        Jong-il;
Whereas Kim Jong-un's regime has accelerated the pace of its nuclear weapons and 
        ballistic missiles program, by--

    (1) conducting 86 ballistic missile tests, successfully testing both 
ground-launched and submarine-launched solid fuel missiles;

    (2) conducting 20 ballistic missile flight tests in 2017, including a 
recent test that is reported to be capable of carrying a nuclear warhead 
and reaching anywhere in the continental United States;

    (3) improving upon missile ranges and testing re-entry capability; and

    (4) conducting a total of four nuclear weapon tests, including three 
that have occurred since January 2016 and a claimed hydrogen bomb test with 
a yield estimated to be 150 kilotons;

Whereas a high ranking DPRK defector has publicly testified that as long as Kim 
        Jong-un remains in power there is no chance to improve the human rights 
        conditions in the DPRK and that Kim Jong-un will never relinquish the 
        country's nuclear capabilities;
Whereas the collective development and testing of DPRK's nuclear weapons program 
        pose a real and critical threat to the United States and global 
        stability;
Whereas the United Nations Security Council has passed nine sanctions 
        resolutions regarding North Korea's nuclear missile and space 
        development programs since North Korea's first nuclear test in 2006;
Whereas the United States Congress passed the North Korea Sanctions and Policy 
        Enhancement Act of 2016 (Public Law 114-122) in February 2016 and the 
        Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (Public Law 115-
        44) in July 2017 to provide sanction authorities to deter the DPRK's 
        provocative behavior;
Whereas the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution to 
        sanction the DPRK economy in September 2017;
Whereas the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), in its 2017 Worldwide 
        Threat Assessment, assessed that North Korea's ``weapons of mass 
        destruction program, public threats, defiance of the international 
        community, confrontational military posturing, cyber activities, and 
        potential for internal instability pose a complex and increasingly grave 
        national security threat to the United States and its interests'';
Whereas the DNI further assessed that Kim is intent on proving the DPRK's 
        capability to strike the contiguous United States with nuclear weapons;
Whereas the People's Republic of China accounts for 80 to 90 percent of trade 
        with DPRK;
Whereas the People's Republic of China acts as the DPRK's primary advocate and 
        must join the United States in a committed effort to dismantling the 
        DPRK nuclear and missile programs; and
Whereas the President has authority to impose secondary sanctions on any 
        financial institution or other entity that conducts business with DPRK 
        entities in order to apply maximum pressure on the regime to abandon 
        their nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs: Now, therefore, be 
        it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) expresses that the United States of America should not 
        tolerate the DPRK's possession of nuclear weapons or continued 
        development of nuclear weapon and ballistic missile 
        capabilities;
            (2) believes the United States and the international 
        community, including the United Nations Security Council and 
        United States regional allies, should develop and immediately 
        implement the strictest sanctions regime and continue to 
        exhaust every reasonable diplomatic option necessary to achieve 
        the complete, verifiable, and irreversible dismantlement of the 
        DPRK's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs;
            (3) expresses that the United States Government should plan 
        for every military contingency necessary to defend the American 
        people and ensure regional and global security;
            (4) acknowledges that the ROK and Japan, both treaty allies 
        of the United States, would likely face immediate retaliation 
        by the DPRK in response to any potential military action by the 
        United States and therefore that any military action by the 
        United States should be coordinated with the Governments of the 
        ROK and Japan;
            (5) asserts that Congress is unified in its condemnation of 
        the DPRK's dangerous pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic 
        missile capability and should be appropriately consulted prior 
        to any use of military force; and
            (6) recognizes that Congress possesses the authority under 
        Article I of the Constitution of the United States to declare 
        war, and affirms that the authorization of Congress is needed 
        prior to any pre-emptive or preventative ground war on the 
        Korean Peninsula initiated by United States forces.
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