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US Bill Urges Return of NK to Terrorism List

Posted May. 20, 2010 03:03,   

한국어

U.S. Republican congressmen introduced a bill Wednesday to restore North Korea to the U.S terrorism list.

Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, the ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, presented the bill titled “North Korea Sanctions and Diplomatic Non-recognition Act of 2010.”

The bill said Washington must hold Pyongyang accountable for its continuous provocations by putting the North back on the terrorism list and imposing sanctions accordingly.

Ros-Lehtinen also said that by passing the bill, the U.S. should clearly show the North that Congress is cooperating with its allies, including Seoul, to deal with Pyongyang’s threats.

Before the bill’s introduction, the congresswoman said in a House Foreign Affairs Committee statement for review that the North’s removal from the list was unwise and hasty. She added that Pyongyang broke its promise to verify its denuclearization process and conducted a second nuclear test and missile launch last year.

Evidence overwhelmingly implicates the North in the sinking of the South Korean naval vessel Cheonan, Ros-Lehtinen said, and North Korea also sent terrorists to South Korea to assassinate Hwang Jang-yop, the highest-ranking North Korean official to defect to the South. A plot to assassinate a key figure constitutes international terrorism under the U.S. criminal code, she added.



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