[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 83 (Thursday, June 4, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6169-S6170]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              NORTH KOREA

  Mr. BROWNBACK. Madam President, I rise to speak briefly about North 
Korea and what is taking place there. To put some of this in context, I 
think everybody knows--around the country and the world--what North 
Korea is doing today. Two Americans are on trial, in a crazy setting. 
They have a missile on a pad that can reach the United States. They 
have tested another nuclear device. They have tested previously a 
nuclear device. They are in the throes of some sort of possible change 
within the regime. It is a very unstable, very provocative situation in 
North Korea.
  I raise all that because at the end of the Bush administration, they 
took North Korea off the terrorism list, and they did it as a way to 
try to negotiate, to try to get them into the six-party talks to do 
more things and to work with us and with the world community.
  Since that period, the North Korean Government has taken the exact 
opposite tack. Instead of working with us, they have done everything 
they can to provoke us even further. President Bush, when he took North 
Korea off the terrorism list, said:

       We will trust you only to the extent that you fulfill your 
     promises . . . If North Korea makes the wrong choices, the 
     United States . . . will act accordingly.

  That was President Bush. He is, obviously, not President any longer. 
At that point in time, many of us objected to taking North Korea off 
the terrorism list, but he went ahead and did it anyway. Then Candidate 
Obama said, at roughly that same period:

       Sanctions are a critical part of our leverage to pressure 
     [North Korea] to act. They should only be lifted based on 
     North Korean performance. If the North Koreans do not meet 
     their obligations, we should move quickly to reimpose 
     sanctions that have been waived, and consider new 
     restrictions going forward.

  Since President Bush said that, since Candidate Obama said that, here 
is what the North Korean regime has done. I mentioned some of these, 
but I will go into detail. They have: launched a multistage ballistic 
missile over Japan; kidnapped and imprisoned two American journalists; 
pulled out of the six-party talks, vowing never to return; kicked out 
international nuclear inspectors and American monitors; restarted their 
nuclear facilities; renounced the 50-year armistice with South Korea; 
detonated a second illegal nuclear bomb; launched additional short-
range missiles; are about to launch a long-range missile capable of 
reaching the United States; and, at this very moment, are calling the 
detained American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, before a North 
Korean court, if you could even call it that possibly, to answer for 
supposed crimes of illegal entry into North Korea and unexplained 
hostile acts. The two could face years in a North Korean labor camp. 
That is what has taken place since those statements.
  We want to put forward an amendment on this bill or on some future 
bill--but I would like to do it and we should do it on this bill--to 
label North Korea a terrorist state again, like President Bush said we 
should, if they don't act right; like Candidate Obama said we should, 
if they don't fulfill their obligations. We think the administration 
should do this now, should relist them as a terrorist state. We think 
it would be an important vote and statement by this body if we would 
say the North Korean Government is a terrorist government because it 
is. It is one of the lead armers to provide armament to rogue regimes 
and individuals around the world. Some of my colleagues may have seen 
the story this week about a North Korean general who was one of the 
lead counterfeiters in the world of United States one hundred dollar 
bills. They were very good quality, done on state machinery I have no 
doubt. He is one of the lead counterfeiters around the world.
  Why, then, the State Department would say earlier today that they 
don't think this ``meets the test'' is beyond me. I think this body 
should vote and send a very clear signal that we believe the North 
Korean regime should be listed as a terrorist state and a terrorist 
sponsor. It has taken an incredible list of provocative acts. The Obama 
administration has said: Let's get the U.N. to issue sanctions against 
them.
  Let's get the United States to do our sanctions against them for what 
they are doing. All this amendment does that I want to vote on is have 
the administration place North Korea back on the terrorism list, where 
it rightly deserves to be and should have been all along. Of course, 
the amendment does allow the President to waive the requirement of 
relisting so long as he certifies that certain conditions have taken 
place, that they have met their obligations, which they clearly are not 
going to.
  I think it is wrong for this body not to be clear on this toward 
North Korea. It is wrong for this country not to be clear toward North 
Korea of what we believe of their provocative actions, that we will not 
stand by and say: Yes, you can keep doing this; yes, you can keep 
launching missiles; yes, you can keep detonating nuclear devices, and 
we will not do anything. We should be clear we are going to act. These 
are wrong and provocative actions, and they deserve the minimum 
response this is. That is why I would like to get a vote on this 
amendment. I would hope I would get a unanimous vote by my colleagues 
to relist them as a terrorist state. I would hope we could get that up 
on this bill. We are in negotiations now with the majority leader about 
this. It is time to vote. It is time to send this at least minimal 
message to the North Korean Government that these actions cannot stand 
without some response from the United States. I hope we could get a 
vote up on this.
  I urge the majority leader and those working on coming up with an 
agreement to go to the next bill to allow us to vote on this North 
Korean amendment to provide these sanctions.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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