A bill to require that North Korea be listed as a state sponsor of terrorism, to ensure that human rights is a prominent issue in negotiations between the United States and North Korea, and for other purposes.

Summary: North Korea Sanctions Act of 2009 - Directs the Secretary of State to designate the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea as a country that has repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism for specified purposes under the Export Administration Act of 1979, the Arms Export Control Act, and the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.

Authorizes the President to waive such requirement upon a certification to Congress that North Korea has taken certain actions regarding: (1) nuclear program and proliferation disclosures; (2) the illegal transfer of missile or nuclear technology; (3) support of international terrorist groups; and (4) prisoner release.

Expresses the sense of Congress that the Special Envoy for Human Rights in North Korea should be present at all negotiating sessions between the governments of the United States and North Korea.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``North Korea Sanctions Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) North Korean negotiators in the Six-Party diplomatic 
        process did not act in good faith by their refusal to agree to 
        a transparent verification process for denuclearization 
        consistent with ``international standards'', including 
        provisions for nuclear sampling, following North Korea's 
        removal on October 11, 2008, from the list of state sponsors of 
        terrorism maintained by the Department of State.
            (2) International press reports indicate that North Korea 
        has continued to provide support to Iran in the areas of 
        missile technology and nuclear development and has provided 
        Iran's surrogates, Hezbollah and Hamas, with both missile 
        technology and training in tunneling techniques with which to 
        attack Israel, an ally of the United States.
            (3) International press reports indicate that North Korea 
        was engaged for a number of years in assistance to Syria in the 
        construction of a nuclear reactor in the Syrian desert which 
        was destroyed in a strike by Israeli forces on September 6, 
        2007.
            (4) North Korean negotiators continue to refuse to address 
        in a humane and sincere manner the issue of the abduction of 
        civilians of Japan and the Republic of Korea, both allies of 
        the United States, as well as the abductions of citizens from a 
        number of other countries, including France, Lebanon, Romania, 
        and Thailand.
            (5) Defectors coming out of North Korea have provided 
        testimony that United States permanent resident, Reverend Kim 
        Dong-shik, the spouse and father of United States citizens, was 
        tortured and murdered inside North Korea after his abduction by 
        Pyongyang's agents on the Chinese border in January 2000 and 
        that his remains are currently being held at a military 
        facility inside North Korea.
            (6) Congress authoritatively expressed its view, in section 
        202(b)(2) of the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 (Public 
        Law 108-333; 22 U.S.C. 24 7832(b)(2)) that ``United States 
        nonhumanitarian assistance to North Korea shall be contingent 
        on North Korea's substantial progress'' on human rights 
        improvements, release of and accounting for abductees, family 
        reunification, reform of North Korea's labor camp system, and 
        the decriminalization of political expression, none of which 
        has occurred.
            (7) Congress further authoritatively expressed its view, in 
        section 2 of the North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act 
        of 2008 (Public Law 110-346) that ``human rights and 
        humanitarian conditions inside North Korea are deplorable'' and 
        that ``North Korean refugees remain acutely vulnerable''.
            (8) Congress has determined that any missile test or launch 
        conducted by North Korea would be in direct violation of United 
        Nations Security Council resolution 1695, adopted on July 16, 
        2006, which ``condemns the multiple launches by the DPRK (North 
        Korea) of ballistic missiles on July 5, 2006, local time'', and 
        United Nations Security Council resolution 1718, adopted on 
        October 9, 2006, which ``demands that the DPRK (North Korea) 
        not conduct any further nuclear test or launch of a ballistic 
        missile'' and ``decides that the DPRK shall suspend all 
        activities related to its ballistic missile programme and in 
        this context re-establish its pre-existing commitments to a 
        moratorium on missile launching'', and further determines that 
        the resulting sanctions imposed under such resolution 1718 
        would again come into full effect following a missile test or 
        launch.
            (9) Congress has further determined that a return by North 
        Korea to the Six-Party diplomatic process following any missile 
        test or launch by Pyongyang must include a firm and transparent 
        commitment to the complete, verifiable and irreversible 
        dismantlement of all of North Korea's nuclear programs, 
        including those derived both from plutonium as well as highly 
        enriched uranium.
            (10) Japanese press reports have indicated that a 
        delegation of approximately fifteen Iranian missile experts 
        have arrived in North Korea in March 2009 ``to help Pyongyang 
        prepare for a rocket launch'', including senior officials with 
        the Iranian rocket and satellite producer Shahid Hemmat 
        Industrial Group, and that they brought with them a letter from 
        their President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to North Korean leader Kim 
        Jong-Il stressing the importance of cooperating on space 
        technology.

SEC. 3. LISTING OF NORTH KOREA AS STATE SPONSOR OF TERRORISM.

    (a) In General.--Except as provided under subsection (b), the 
Secretary of State shall designate the Democratic People's Republic of 
North Korea as a country that has repeatedly provided support for acts 
of international terrorism for purposes of section 6(j) of the Export 
Administration Act of 1979 (50 U.S.C. App. 2405(j)); section 40 of the 
Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2780); and section 620A of the 
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2371).
    (b) Waiver.--The President may waive the requirement to make the 
designation under subsection (a) upon certifying to Congress that the 
Government of North Korea--
            (1) has provided a full, complete, and accurate disclosure 
        of all aspects of its nuclear program, including its uranium 
        enrichment capabilities;
            (2)(A) has not, in the previous 5 years, engaged in the 
        illegal transfer of missile or nuclear technology, particularly 
        to the governments of Iran, Syria, or any other country, the 
        government of which the Secretary of State has determined, for 
        purposes of section 6(j) of the Export Administration Act of 
        1979 (as continued in effect pursuant to the International 
        Emergency Economic Powers Act), section 40 of the Arms Export 
        Control Act, section 620A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 
        1961, or other provision of law, is a government that has 
        repeatedly provided support for international acts of 
        terrorism; and
            (B) has fully disclosed all proliferation activities in the 
        past 10 years, which if occurring today, would violate United 
        Nations Security Council Resolution 1718 (2006);
            (3) has not, in the previous 5 years, engaged in training 
        in combat operations or tunneling, or harboring, supplying, 
        financing, or supporting in any way--
                    (A) Hamas, Hezbollah, the Japanese Red Army, or any 
                member of such organizations;
                    (B) any organization designated by the Secretary of 
                State as a foreign terrorist organization in accordance 
                with section 219(a) of the Immigration and Nationality 
                Act (8 U.S.C. 1189(a)); and
                    (C) any person included on the annex to Executive 
                Order 13224 (September 21, 2001) and any other person 
                identified under section 1 of that Executive Order 
                whose property and interests are blocked by that 
                section (commonly known as a ``specially designated 
                global terrorist'');
            (4) has--
                    (A) released United States citizens Euna Lee and 
                Laura Ling, who were working as journalists reporting 
                on refugees on the North Korean border of China when 
                they were detained by North Korean guards on March 17, 
                2009; and
                    (B) returned the last remains of United States 
                permanent resident, Reverend Kim Dong-shik, to his 
                United States citizen widow, family, and church 
                members, so that he may be provided with a proper 
                Christian burial in Chicago;
            (5) has released the Japanese nationals recognized as 
        abduction victims by the Government of Japan as well as 
        abduction victims recognized by the Government of the Republic 
        of Korea;
            (6) has released an estimated 600 surviving South Korean 
        POWs, and any other surviving POWs from the Korean War, who 
        have been held in North Korea against their will and in 
        violation of the Armistice Agreement since hostilities ended in 
        July 1953;
            (7) has opened the North Korean penal system, including the 
        gulag of concentration camps holding an estimated 200,000 
        political and religious prisoners, to unrestricted and regular 
        visits by representatives of the International Committee of the 
        Red Cross;
            (8) has made provision for unrestricted and regular access 
        by representatives of the United National High Commissioner for 
        Refugees to refugees forcibly repatriated to North Korea to 
        determine their general health and welfare; and
            (9) has ceased threatening to commit terrorist acts in its 
        public statements and state owned media and has issued public 
        assurances that the Government will not sponsor or commit 
        terrorism again.

SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN NORTH KOREA.

    Section 101 of the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 (22 U.S.C. 
7811) is amended--
            (1) in the section heading, by striking ``sense of 
        congress'' and inserting ``statement of policy''; and
            (2) by striking ``It is the sense of Congress'' and 
        inserting ``It is the policy of the United States''.

SEC. 5. ROLE OF SPECIAL ENVOY FOR NORTH KOREAN HUMAN RIGHTS IN 
              NEGOTIATIONS WITH NORTH KOREA.

    It is the sense of Congress that the Special Envoy for Human Rights 
in North Korea should be present at all negotiating sessions between 
the United States Government and the Government of North Korea.