[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 127 (Thursday, July 27, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4529-S4530]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 538. Mr. CRUZ (for himself, Mr. Gardner, Mr. Sullivan, and Mr. 
Rubio) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the 
bill H.R. 2810, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2018 for 
military activities of the Department of Defense, for military 
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, 
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for 
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the end of subtitle E of title XII, add the following:

     SEC. 1270E. REPORT ON DESIGNATION OF GOVERNMENT OF NORTH 
                   KOREA AS A STATE SPONSOR OF TERRORISM.

       (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) The United States Government designated the Government 
     of North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism on January 20, 
     1988.
       (2) 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     state sponsor of terrorism was rescinded, following 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 dismantle its 
     nuclear weapons program. However, North Korea has failed to 
     live up to these commitments.
       (3) On October 22, 2015, the U.S. Special Representative 
     for North Korea Policy with the 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 the 
     Deputy Coordinator for Homeland Security, Screening, and 
     Designations with the 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''.
       (4) 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.
       (5) 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.
       (6) 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.
       (7) 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.
       (8) In March 2015, the South Korean government concluded 
     that North Korea was responsible for a December 2014 cyber 
     attack against multiple nuclear power plants in South Korea. 
     The South Korean government 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''.
       (9) On December 19, 2015, the Federal Bureau of 
     Investigation (FBI) concluded that North Korea was 
     responsible for a cyber attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment 
     and a subsequent threat of violence against theaters that 
     showed the film ``The Interview''. The FBI concluded that the 
     ``Guardians of Peace,'' which sent the threat to Sony 
     Pictures, was a unit of North Korea's Reconnaissance General 
     Bureau, its foreign intelligence service.

[[Page S4530]]

       (10) South Korean and Malaysian authorities have alleged 
     that officials from North Korea's secret police and Foreign 
     Ministry were involved in the poisoning and killing of the 
     estranged half-brother of the country's leader, Kim Jong-nam, 
     using the chemical weapon VX nerve agent, a substance banned 
     for use as a weapon by the United Nations Chemical Weapons 
     Convention, on February 13, 2017, in Kuala Lumpur.
       (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of the Congress 
     that the Government of North Korea should be designated as a 
     state sponsor of terrorism.
       (c) Determination.--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 
     determination as to whether North Korea meets the criteria 
     for designation as a state sponsor of terrorism.
       (d) Form.--The report required by subsection (c) shall be 
     submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified 
     annex, if appropriate.
       (e) Definitions.--In this section:
       (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.
                                 ______