Congressmen submit bill to sanction N. Korea for nuclear test

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Aug. 2 (Yonhap) -- A bill has been submitted to U.S. Congress for
imposing an arms embargo on North Korea under a U.S. domestic law for the North's
second nuclear test in May after one about three years earlier.

The North Korea Sanctions Act of 2009 (HR 3423), introduced by Michael McMahon
(D-NY) and Rep Bob Inglis (R-SC) on Thursday, calls on the Barack Obama
administration to "impose certain sanctions on North Korea as a result of the
detonation by that country of a nuclear explosive device on May 25, 2009" under
the Arms Export Control Act (AECA).
The AECA bans arms shipments to any countries if the exports "would contribute to
an arms race, aid in the development of weapons of mass destruction, support
international terrorism, increase the possibility of outbreak or escalation of
conflict, or prejudice the development of bilateral or multilateral arms control
or nonproliferation agreements or other arrangements."
It also prevents U.S. governments and financial institutions from doing business
with those countries under an arms embargo.
North Korea has already been subject to international sanctions under a U.N.
Security Council resolution adopted after the May 25 nuclear test.
Under the resolution, the Security Council blacklisted five North Korean firms
early last month, imposed a travel ban on and froze the assets of five North
Korean officials, and banned the trade to and from North Korea of graphite for
electrical discharge machining and aramid fiber, used in nuclear weapons and
missiles.
The introduction of HR 3423 also follows a U.S. Senate resolution adopted late
last month to call on the Obama administration to "assess the effectiveness" of
relisting North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism.
The resolution calls for Obama to submit a report within 30 days on Pyongyang's
record on weapons of mass destruction proliferation and terrorism since it was
removed from the U.S. State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism in
October.
North Korea was first put on the terrorism list soon after it downed a South
Korean airplane over Myanmar in 1987, killing all 115 passengers. Its delisting
came in October 2008 and paved the way for a fresh round of multilateral nuclear
talks deadlocked for nearly a year.
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)