III 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 361 

Expressing the sense of the Senate that the United States Government 

shall, both unilaterally and alongside the international community, consider all options for exerting maximum pressure on the Democratic 

People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), in order to denuclearize the DPRK, 

protect the lives of United States citizens and allies, and prevent further 

proliferation of nuclear weapons. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 14, 2017 

Mr. CORNYN (for himself, Mr. MCCAIN, Mr. SULLIVAN, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. 

RISCH, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. STRANGE, and Mr. INHOFE) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the Senate that the United States 

Government shall, both unilaterally and alongside the 

international community, consider all options for exerting 

maximum pressure on the Democratic People’s Republic 

of Korea (DPRK), in order to denuclearize the DPRK, 

protect the lives of United States citizens and allies, 

and prevent further proliferation of nuclear weapons. 

Whereas the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) 

is a brutal Communist regime that has consistently pursued a nuclear weapons program since the early 1960s; 


daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS
2 

•SRES 361 IS 

Whereas the DPRK has a long history of humanitarian 

abuses against its own people; 

Whereas in the 1970s and 1980s, the DPRK kidnapped foreign nationals from countries including Japan, South 

Korea, China, France, and Italy to train DPRK spies; 

Whereas the DPRK has unjustly detained visiting United 

States citizens, including Otto Warmbier, who died after 

being detained for more than a year; 

Whereas the DPRK and Republic of Korea (ROK) in 1992 

signed a Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the 

Korean Peninsula, promising to cease testing and production of nuclear weapons; 

Whereas the United States agreed to provide energy assistance to the DPRK in exchange for a nuclear-free Korean 

peninsula in 1994; 

Whereas the United States Government revealed in October 

2002 that the DPRK admitted operating a secret nuclear 

weapons program in violation of agreements and international commitments; 

Whereas, following six-party talks in 2005, the DPRK agreed 

to abandon its nuclear weapons program in exchange for 

energy assistance, economic cooperation, and steps toward normalization with the United States and Japan; 

Whereas the DPRK proceeded to conduct multiple missile 

tests and its first nuclear weapons test in 2006; 

Whereas the DPRK agreed to disable its nuclear facilities in 

exchange for energy assistance in February 2007 and ‘‘to 

provide a complete and correct declaration of its nuclear 

programs’’ in October 2007, but ultimately did not fulfill 

its commitment; 


daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS
3 

•SRES 361 IS 

Whereas the DPRK tested a long-range missile directed at 

the United States in 2009; 

Whereas the DPRK attacked and sunk the South Korean 

ship Cheonan, murdering 46 sailors in 2010; 

Whereas DPRK forces fired approximately 170 artillery 

shells and rockets at Yeonpyeong Island, hitting ROK 

military and civilian targets and killing two ROK marines 

and two civilians in November 2010; 

Whereas the DPRK agreed to cease long-range missile and 

nuclear tests in exchange for United States food aid in 

February 2012; 

Whereas the DPRK proceeded to test yet another long-range 

missile in April 2012; 

Whereas the DPRK has conducted almost three times the 

number of ballistic missile and nuclear weapons tests 

during Kim Jong-un’s six years in power than in the 

nearly 60 years before him under Kim Il-sung and Kim 

Jong-il; 

Whereas Kim Jong-un’s regime has accelerated the pace of 

its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles program, by— 

(1) conducting 86 ballistic missile tests, successfully 

testing both ground-launched and submarine-launched 

solid fuel missiles; 

(2) conducting 20 ballistic missile flight tests in 

2017, including a recent test that is reported to be capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and reaching anywhere 

in the continental United States; 

(3) improving upon missile ranges and testing reentry capability; and 

(4) conducting a total of four nuclear weapon tests, 

including three that have occurred since January 2016 


daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS
4 

•SRES 361 IS 

and a claimed hydrogen bomb test with a yield estimated 

to be 150 kilotons; 

Whereas a high ranking DPRK defector has publicly testified 

that as long as Kim Jong-un remains in power there is 

no chance to improve the human rights conditions in the 

DPRK and that Kim Jong-un will never relinquish the 

country’s nuclear capabilities; 

Whereas the collective development and testing of DPRK’s 

nuclear weapons program pose a real and critical threat 

to the United States and global stability; 

Whereas the United Nations Security Council has passed 

nine sanctions resolutions regarding North Korea’s nuclear missile and space development programs since 

North Korea’s first nuclear test in 2006; 

Whereas the United States Congress passed the North Korea 

Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act of 2016 (Public 

Law 114–122) in February 2016 and the Countering 

America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (Public 

Law 115–44) in July 2017 to provide sanction authorities to deter the DPRK’s provocative behavior; 

Whereas the United Nations Security Council unanimously 

adopted a resolution to sanction the DPRK economy in 

September 2017; 

Whereas the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), in its 

2017 Worldwide Threat Assessment, assessed that North 

Korea’s ‘‘weapons of mass destruction program, public 

threats, defiance of the international community, 

confrontational military posturing, cyber activities, and 

potential for internal instability pose a complex and increasingly grave national security threat to the United 

States and its interests’’; 


daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS
5 

•SRES 361 IS 

Whereas the DNI further assessed that Kim is intent on 

proving the DPRK’s capability to strike the contiguous 

United States with nuclear weapons; 

Whereas the People’s Republic of China accounts for 80 to 

90 percent of trade with DPRK; 

Whereas the People’s Republic of China acts as the DPRK’s 

primary advocate and must join the United States in a 

committed effort to dismantling the DPRK nuclear and 

missile programs; and 

Whereas the President has authority to impose secondary 

sanctions on any financial institution or other entity that 

conducts business with DPRK entities in order to apply 

maximum pressure on the regime to abandon their nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) expresses that the United States of America 

3 should not tolerate the DPRK’s possession of nu4 clear weapons or continued development of nuclear 

5 weapon and ballistic missile capabilities; 

6 (2) believes the United States and the inter7 national community, including the United Nations 

8 Security Council and United States regional allies, 

9 should develop and immediately implement the 

10 strictest sanctions regime and continue to exhaust 

11 every reasonable diplomatic option necessary to 

12 achieve the complete, verifiable, and irreversible disVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:51 Dec 14, 2017 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR361.IS SR361

daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS
6 

•SRES 361 IS 

1 mantlement of the DPRK’s nuclear weapons and 

2 ballistic missile programs; 

3 (3) expresses that the United States Govern4 ment should plan for every military contingency nec5 essary to defend the American people and ensure re6 gional and global security; 

7 (4) acknowledges that the ROK and Japan, 

8 both treaty allies of the United States, would likely 

9 face immediate retaliation by the DPRK in response 

10 to any potential military action by the United States 

11 and therefore that any military action by the United 

12 States should be coordinated with the Governments 

13 of the ROK and Japan; 

14 (5) asserts that Congress is unified in its con15 demnation of the DPRK’s dangerous pursuit of nu16 clear weapons and ballistic missile capability and 

17 should be appropriately consulted prior to any use of 

18 military force; and 

19 (6) recognizes that Congress possesses the au20 thority under Article I of the Constitution of the 

21 United States to declare war, and affirms that the 

22 authorization of Congress is needed prior to any pre23 emptive or preventative ground war on the Korean 

24 Peninsula initiated by United States forces. 

Æ 


daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS