[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 171 (Monday, December 31, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H7498-H7500]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CONDEMNING NORTH KOREAN MISSILE LAUNCH
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and
agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 145) calling for
universal condemnation of the North Korean missile launch of December
12, 2012, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the concurrent resolution.
The text of the concurrent resolution is as follows:
H. Con. Res. 145
Whereas United Nations Security Council Resolution 1695,
unanimously adopted on July 15, 2006, following a series of
North Korean missile firings on July 5, 2006, specifically
condemned the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (North
Korea) recent test-firing of a series of missiles, and
demanded that the North-East Asian country suspend all
ballistic missile related activity and reinstate its
moratorium on missile launches;
Whereas United Nations Security Council Resolution 1695
also required all Member States, in accordance with their
national legal authorities and legislation and consistent
with international law, to exercise vigilance and prevent
missile and missile-related items, materials, goods, and
technology being transferred to North Korea's missile or
weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programmes, and to prevent
the procurement of missiles or missile related-items,
materials, goods, and technology from North Korea, and the
transfer of any financial resources in relation to North
Korea's missile or WMD programmes;
Whereas United Nations Security Council Resolution 1718,
adopted on October 14, 2006, decided that North Korea 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;
Whereas United Nations Security Council Resolution 1718
also imposed a ban on the sales of military equipment and
luxury goods to North Korea as well as a ban on technology
transfers;
Whereas United Nations Security Council Resolution 1718
further required Member States to prevent the travel of North
Korean officials connected to the ballistic missile or
nuclear programs, the inspection of cargo from North Korea to
assure it was not missile, WMD, or nuclear-related, and the
immediate freezing of funds, other financial assets, and
economic resources that support these illicit North Korean
activities;
Whereas United Nations Security Council Resolution 1874,
adopted on June 12, 2009, called upon Member States to
inspect, seize, and dispose of proscribed illicit North Korea
items related to its missile, nuclear, and
[[Page H7499]]
WMD programmes and to prevent the provision of financial
services or the transfer to, through, or from their territory
of any financial or other assets or resources that could
contribute to North Korea's nuclear-related, ballistic
missile-related, or other WMD-related programmes or
activities, and by denying fuel or supplies to service the
vessels carrying them;
Whereas, on December 12, 2012, in flagrant defiance of past
United Nations Security Council resolutions, the
international community, and its Six-Party partners, North
Korea launched a three-stage, long-range missile, which
overflew Japanese territory near Okinawa and dropped debris
into the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, and waters adjacent
to the Philippines;
Whereas North Korea's latest provocative and defiant action
represents a direct threat to the United States Armed Forces
in the Asia/Pacific region and regional allies and friends,
including Australia, Japan, the Philippines, the Republic of
Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan and is a potential future threat
to the United States and its people, including those residing
in Guam, Hawaii, Alaska, and the west coast of the United
States mainland; and
Whereas there has been extensive cooperation on missile
development and military cooperation between the Governments
of North Korea and Iran that dates back to the 1980s: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that--
(1) the North Korean missile launch of December 12, 2012,
represents a flagrant violation of United Nations Security
Council resolutions 825 (1993), 1540 (2004), 1695 (2006),
1718 (2006), and 1874 (2009), that North Korea continues to
defy the United Nations, its Six-Party partners, and the
international community, and that the Member States should
immediately impose sanctions covered by these resolutions and
censure North Korea;
(2) all current restrictions against the Government of
North Korea, including sanctions that ban the importation
into the United States of North Korean products and goods,
should remain in effect until the Government of North Korea
no longer engages in activities that threaten United States
interests and global peace and stability;
(3) the Government of China should cooperate with the
United States in pursuit of a new round of United Nations
Security Council sanctions, to pressure its North Korean
partner, redouble its efforts to prevent Chinese companies
from transferring military and dual-use technologies to North
Korea, and to crack down on transshipments through China that
relate to North Korean military, missile, and nuclear
programs and proliferation activities; and
(4) North Korea should abandon and dismantle its
provocative missile and nuclear weapons programs, cease its
proliferation activities, and come into immediate compliance
with all relevant international agreements and United Nations
Security Council resolutions.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Poe of Texas). Pursuant to the rule, the
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) and the gentleman from
California (Mr. Berman) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Florida.
General Leave
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks
and to include extraneous material in the Record on this bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from Florida?
There was no objection.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise to support this strongly bipartisan measure which condemns the
latest provocation by North Korea. Pyongyang has once again flagrantly
violated past United Nations Security Council resolutions and the
assurances given to Six-Party partners.
I would also like to take this opportunity, Mr. Speaker, to sincerely
congratulate President-elect Park for her victory in South Korea's
hard-fought presidential election.
The Republic of Korea is one of our Nation's closest friends in Asia.
Ours is a steadfast alliance forged in the crucible of war. Two decades
ago, with all eyes on Europe, the United States prematurely celebrated
victory over communism and an end to the Cold War. But in 1989, the
same year the Berlin Wall fell, tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square,
crushing, in a bloody massacre, the democracy movement of the Chinese
people. So while communism fell in Europe, it was revitalized in the
world's most populous nation and preserved in North Korea and in my
native homeland of Cuba.
Pyongyang's recent missile launch awakens America to the fact that
the shadow of communism still casts a long shadow over Asia. North
Korea's expanding nuclear and missile proliferation threaten not only
our allies in the Pacific, but potentially our own people as well. In
Asia, the Cold War never ended, and the United States and South Korean
forces stand guard together on this last frontier.
Attempts to engage Pyongyang over the past 4 years have been met with
repeated provocations: the kidnapping of two American journalists,
repeated missile launches, one more nuclear test, the sinking of a
South Korean naval vessel with the loss of 46 lives, and the shelling
of a South Korean island.
{time} 1210
How much more should we endure before we say, Enough is enough?
Sweet-talking Pyongyang only seems to inspire further belligerence.
Our extended hand is met not only with a clenched fist but a fist
grasping a knife. Those who had hoped for openness and reform from this
new generation of the Kim dynasty saw their dreams go up in smoke on a
North Korean launch pad. The only answer appears to be a coordinated,
firm, international strategy in which current sanctions are reinforced
and strengthened. This, of course, requires the cooperation of Beijing,
a U.N. Security Council permanent member who deceptively seems to tell
one thing to Washington and yet another to Pyongyang.
Press articles hailed the fact that China, in anticipation of the
recent launch, had begun inspecting cargo on North Korean ships in
search of contraband. The question this raises is: Why has China not
been inspecting North Korean ships since 2006, as was first called for
in a U.N. resolution, which was reinforced by another resolution in the
year 2009? If U.N. member states would only enforce the sanctions
currently on the books, North Korea would be unable to ignore the
international community and the civilized world.
The time for coordinated international action is now. The time, in
fact, is long overdue.
With that, Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Con. Res.
145, as amended, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I would like to thank the sponsor of this legislation, the chairman
of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, for her leadership
on this issue and for her work in addressing the North Korean threat.
Earlier this month, North Korea carried out a missile launch using
ballistic missile technology in direct defiance of the international
community. This important resolution condemns North Korea's launch, and
it calls on the North to live up to its commitments, to adhere to its
international obligations and to deal peacefully with its neighbors.
North Korea's missile launch is a blatant violation of U.N. Security
Council resolutions 1718 and 1874, and we urge the Security Council to
take strong and concerted action to demonstrate that Pyongyang's
actions are completely unacceptable. In particular, we call on China
and Russia to work constructively with other members of the Council to
show that the international community is united in condemning North
Korea's provocative behavior.
North Korea is only further isolating itself with its irresponsible
action, and the development of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons
will never bring the real security and acceptance by the international
community that the regime so desperately wants. Instead of pouring
hundreds of millions of dollars into its so-called space program,
nuclear programs, and massive military, North Korea should instead work
to feed its own citizens and improve its dismal economy.
We must continue to remain vigilant in the face of North Korean
provocations and fully committed to the security of our allies in the
region, so I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. I would like to yield such time as he may consume
to the gentleman from California (Mr. Royce), the chairman of the
Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade
and the chairman-designate of the full committee in the next Congress.
I thank
[[Page H7500]]
him for his leadership on this and many of the issues that are facing
our Foreign Affairs Committee.
Mr. ROYCE. Thank you very much, Chairman, for yielding.
I rise in support of this resolution, of which I am an original
cosponsor.
I think Members are very rightly concerned now, as the same
technology that's used to put a satellite into space is also used to
launch a ballistic missile. This experiment by North Korea is
definitely an advance for them. It is definitely a threat to the
region. It is definitely a threat to the United States because what
we're talking about here are three-stage ICBMs.
It is estimated that North Korea has spent $3 billion since 1998 on
that missile program, which is the amount of money that would have
bought enough corn to feed that country over the last 3 years. I have
been to North Korea, and I've seen the malnutrition. Instead of feeding
its people, it continues to plow billions of dollars into its military.
That's the type of despicable regime we're dealing with--where $3
billion went into this project instead of feeding the population. This
is why the House has passed legislation to prohibit the United States
from giving food aid to North Korea. When we do so, money is fungible,
and we have found in the past that that aid is both used to feed the
military and it's sold on the exchange for hard currency.
U.S. policy towards North Korea--hoping that North Korea will give up
its weapons for aid--has been a failure. It has been a bipartisan
failure, frankly, for decades, and it has gotten us now to this point.
The hope that North Korea can be induced to abandon its ambitions for
nuclear weapons and missiles distracts us, unfortunately. It distracts
us from pursuing the very policies that might actually change the
behavior of the regime and support its people.
In going forward, we need to move away from an unimaginative policy
here to one with energy and creativity and focus. Let's tackle North
Korea's illicit activities--its missile and drug proliferation, its
counterfeiting of U.S. currency. This regime will do anything for
money. As many North Koreans who have left will tell you, this is a
gangster regime. Let's interfere with those shipments and disrupt the
bank accounts that are used. Let's ramp up radio broadcasts into the
country where there is evidence that the information wall is cracking.
We see that with the defectors who are telling us about how much they
oppose the regime now. Let's help the refugees who are literally dying
to escape the prison north of the 38th parallel.
Severely weakening the regime is the only way to make the Korean
peninsula secure. Until it was dropped in favor of a failed diplomacy
program several years ago, the Treasury Department went after North
Korea. If we can remember 2006, we went after North Korea's ill-gotten
gains that were parked in a Macau bank. We put the brakes on North
Korea's counterfeiting of U.S. currency. We cut the flow of currency to
the regime. The head of state could not pay his generals. It created a
crisis inside North Korea.
That policy was mistakenly dropped. I'd like to see it reapplied.
Let's go back to where we are proactively defending U.S. interests
instead of just condemning another North Korean provocation every few
months. Let's do something that has been proven to work in terms of
putting the pressure on North Korea.
Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I
yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I also have no further requests for
time, and I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) that the House suspend the
rules and agree to the concurrent resolution, H. Con. Res. 145, as
amended.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a
quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not
present.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further
proceedings on this question will be postponed.
The point of no quorum is considered withdrawn.
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