North Korea State Sponsor of Terrorism Designation Act of 2017

Summary: North Korea State Sponsor of Terrorism Designation Act of 2017 This bill expresses the sense of Congress that the government of North Korea likely meets the criteria for designation as a state sponsor of terrorism and, if so, should be so designated. The Department of State shall submit to Congress a determination as to whether such government meets the criteria for designation as a state sponsor of terrorism.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``North Korea State Sponsor of 
Terrorism Designation Act of 2017''.

SEC. 2. REPORT ON DESIGNATION OF GOVERNMENT OF NORTH KOREA AS A STATE 
              SPONSOR OF TERRORISM.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (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        state sponsor of terrorism was rescinded, following commitments 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 United States 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 U.S. 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 Government of South Korea 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 
        Entertainment, was a unit of North Korea's Reconnaissance 
        General Bureau, its foreign intelligence service.
            (10) 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 likely meets the criteria for designation as 
a state sponsor of terrorism and, if so should be so designated.
    (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 the 
Government of North Korea meets the criteria for designation as a state 
sponsor of terrorism.
    (d) Form.--The determination required by subsection (c) shall be 
submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex, if 
appropriate.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (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) North Korea.--The term ``North Korea'' means the 
        Government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
            (3) 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.

            Passed the House of Representatives April 3, 2017.

            Attest:

                                                 KAREN L. HAAS,

                                                                 Clerk.