[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 25 (Monday, June 30, 2008)]
[Pages 913-914]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Message to the Congress on Continuing Certain Restrictions With Respect 
to North Korea and North Korean Nationals and the Termination of the 
Exercise of Authorities Under the Trading With the Enemy Act

June 26, 2008

To the Congress of the United States:

    Pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, as 
amended (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), I hereby report that I have 
issued an Executive Order continuing certain restrictions on North Korea 
and North Korean nationals imposed pursuant to the exercise of 
authorities under the Trading With the Enemy Act (50 U.S.C. App. 1 et 
seq.) (TWEA). In the order, I declared a national emergency to deal with 
the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and 
foreign policy of the United States posed by the current existence and 
risk of the proliferation of weapons-usable fissile material on the 
Korean Peninsula. I ordered the continuation of certain restrictions on 
North Korea and North Korean nationals as we deal with that threat 
through multilateral diplomacy.

    These restrictions were first imposed pursuant to authorities found 
in section 5(b) of TWEA, following the declaration of a national 
emergency in 1950 in Proclamation 2914 (15 FR 9029), and continued 
annually, after the enactment of IEEPA in 1977, in accordance with 
section 101(b) of Public Law 95-223 (91 Stat. 1625; 50 U.S.C. App. 5(b) 
note). The most recent continuation of such TWEA authorities is found in 
Presidential Determination 2007-32 of September 13, 2007. In a 
proclamation, which I signed the same day as the order, I terminated, 
effective the following day, the exercise of TWEA authorities with 
respect to North Korea.

    The order I have issued continues the blocking of certain property 
and interests in property of North Korea or a North Korean national that 
were blocked as of June 16, 2000, and that remained blocked immediately 
prior to the date of my order. Absent this order, my proclamation 
terminating the exercise of TWEA authorities with respect to North Korea 
would have resulted in the unblocking of that property.

    The order also continues restrictions relating to North Korea-
flagged vessels that would otherwise have been terminated by my 
proclamation. These restrictions prohibit United States persons from 
owning, leasing, operating, or insuring any vessel flagged by North 
Korea and from registering vessels in North Korea or otherwise obtaining 
authorization for a vessel to fly the North Korean flag. For the reasons 
set forth above, I found that it was necessary to continue these 
restrictions.

    I delegated to the Secretary of the Treasury, after consultation 
with the Secretary of State, the authority to take such actions, 
including the promulgation of rules and regulations, and to employ all 
powers granted to the President by IEEPA as may be necessary to carry 
out the purposes of my order.

[[Page 914]]

    I am enclosing a copy of the Executive Order and proclamation I have 
issued.
                                                George W. Bush
 The White House,
 June 26, 2008.