North Korea Sanctions and Diplomatic Nonrecognition Act of 2015

To continue restrictions against and prohibit diplomatic recognition of the Government of North Korea, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the North Korea Sanctions and Diplomatic Nonrecognition Act of 2015 2. Findings Congress finds the following: (1) On January 2, 2015, the President issued Executive Order 13687 imposing additional sanctions with respect to North Korea which stated that the provocative, destabilizing, and repressive actions and policies of the Government of North Korea, including its destructive, coercive cyber-related actions during November and December 2014, actions in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1718, 1874, 2087, and 2094, and commission of serious human rights abuses, constitute a continuing threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States (2) On January 2, 2015, the Department of the Treasury stated that Executive Order 13687 was in response to the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s numerous provocations, particularly the recent cyber-attack targeting Sony Pictures Entertainment and the threats against movie theaters and moviegoers (3) On January 2, 2015, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest stated that [Executive Order 13687] is a response to the Government of North Korea’s ongoing provocative, destabilizing, and repressive actions and policies, particularly its destructive and coercive cyber attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment. (4) On December 29, 2014, the Federal Bureau of Investigation stated that it has concluded the Government of North Korea is responsible for the theft and destruction of data on the network of Sony Pictures Entertainment (5) On December 19, 2014, the Federal Bureau of Investigation stated that it has enough information to conclude that the North Korean government is responsible (6) On July 30, 2014, the Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on two North Korean shipping companies, and 18 of their vessels, that attempted to import a concealed shipment of arms and related materiel from Cuba to the DPRK aboard the DPRK-flagged vessel Chong Chon Gang in July 2013 (7) On July 28, 2014, the United Nations Security Council’s DPRK Sanctions Committee sanctioned the North Korea shipping company, Ocean Maritime Management Company, for its key role in arranging the shipment of concealed arms and related materiel from Cuba to the DPRK in July 2013 contributed to activities prohibited by the resolutions, namely the arms embargo imposed by resolution 1718 (2006), as modified by resolution 1874 (2009), and contributed to the evasion of the measures imposed by these resolutions (8) On July 28, 2014, the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Samantha Power, stated that the attempted arms shipment was a cynical, outrageous and illegal attempt by Cuba and North Korea to circumvent United Nations Sanctions prohibiting the export of weapons to North Korea uncovered irrefutable facts that clearly prove Cuba and the DPRK’s intentions to violate sanctions by employing highly sophisticated deception and obfuscation techniques, including Cuba’s false claims about the transaction being a routine repair effort when detected by Panamanian and UN authorities (9) 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 (10) 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. (11) 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. (12) 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. (13) 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. (14) 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. 7832(b)(2) United States nonhumanitarian assistance to North Korea shall be contingent on North Korea’s substantial progress (15) Congress further authoritatively expressed its view, in section 2 of the North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act of 2008 ( Public Law 110–346 human rights and humanitarian conditions inside North Korea are deplorable North Korean refugees remain acutely vulnerable (16) 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 demands that the DPRK (North Korea) not conduct any further nuclear test or launch of a ballistic missile 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 (17) 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. (18) Japanese press reports have indicated that a delegation of approximately fifteen Iranian missile experts arrived in North Korea in March 2009 to help Pyongyang prepare for a rocket launch (19) North Korea, in defiance of the international community’s efforts to end nuclear proliferation and in violation of its international obligations, conducted a second underground nuclear test on May 25, 2009 (local time), in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1718, which resulted in the passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1874 on June 12, 2009, which imposed additional sanctions and inspection requirements with regard to North Korea. (20) North Korea, according to Western press reports, transshipped missile parts, used to run Iran’s solid fuel ballistic missile program, to Tehran via Air Iran flights which landed in Beijing, China in 2007. (21) Press reports in March 2011 indicated that opposition forces in Libya, when they took positions from Qaddafi forces, discovered North Korean weapons caches, including rockets and anti-aircraft guns, unpacked from crates labeled bulldozer parts, (22) On August 16, 2012, the President signed into law the Ambassador James R. Lilley and Congressman Stephen J. Solarz North Korea Human Rights Reauthorization Act of 2012 ( Public Law 112–172 (23) Congress further authoritatively expressed its view in section 2 of Public Law 112–172 although the transition to the leadership of Kim Jong-Un after the death of Kim Jong-Il has introduced new uncertainties and possibilities, the fundamental human rights and humanitarian conditions inside North Korea remain deplorable, North Korean refugees remain acutely vulnerable, and the findings in the 2004 Act and 2008 Reauthorization remain substantially accurate today (24) Notwithstanding the succession of Kim Jong-Un as supreme leader of North Korea following the death of his father in December 2011, Pyongyang has continued a policy of horrendous human rights violations, including the issuance of new shoot to kill (25) The new Kim Jong-Un regime also displayed duplicity in its negotiations with the United States and other Six-Party partners by launching a missile in April 2012 in direct violation of its Leap Day Agreement (26) Pyongyang defied the international community and relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions by launching a long-range missile on December 12, 2012, resulting in the unanimous passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2087 on January 22, 2013. (27) The regime in Pyongyang further defied the international community and relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions by conducting a nuclear test on February 12, 2013. (28) According to the United States Geological Survey, seismic activity was detected in North Korea with an earthquake measuring 4.9 magnitude, larger than the 2006 and 2009 explosions, and the epicenter of the quake was close to a North Korean nuclear test site. 3. Continuation of restrictions against the Government of North Korea (a) Finding Congress finds that subsequent to the decision of the Secretary of State on October 11, 2008, to rescind the designation of North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism, North Korea has committed acts that can be defined as international terrorism or as highly provocative, including— (1) the dispatch of a covert team of two North Korean military-trained agents to South Korea with orders to assassinate the late North Korean defector Hwang Jang-yop who were apprehended by South Korean officials in April 2010; (2) complicity in the sinking of the South Korean naval vessel Cheonan on March 26, 2010, which resulted in the deaths of 46 South Korean naval personnel; (3) the shipment of weapons by North Korea, seized in Bangkok in December 2009, which were bound for delivery to foreign terrorist organizations Hezbollah and Hamas, according to a statement made by Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in Tokyo on May 12, 2010; (4) the sudden and unprovoked bombardment by North Korean artillery of the civilian-populated South Korean island of Yeonpyeong-do on November 23, 2010, which resulted in the deaths of two South Korean civilians and two Republic of Korea (ROK) marines; (5) the sentencing by Seoul Central District Court in January 2011 of North Korean agent Ri Dong Sam to 10 years in prison for impersonating a refugee in August 2010 to enter South Korea under orders to assassinate leading North Korean defector Hwang Jang-yop; and (6) North Korea’s numerous provocations, particularly the recent cyber-attack targeting Sony Pictures Entertainment and the threats against movie theaters and moviegoers, (b) Continuation of restrictions Notwithstanding the decision by the Secretary of State on October 11, 2008, to rescind the designation of North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism, and in light of the congressional finding described in subsection (a), restrictions against the Government of North Korea that were imposed by reason of a determination of the Secretary of State that the Government of North Korea is a state sponsor of terrorism, as well as sanctions against the Government of North Korea (including sanctions that ban the importation into the United States of North Korean products and goods), that are in effect as of the date of the enactment of this Act shall remain in effect, and shall not be lifted, unless the President makes the certification described in subsection (c). (c) Certification The certification referred to in subsection (b) is a certification to Congress containing a determination of the President that the Government of North Korea— (1) is no longer engaged in the illegal transfer of missile or nuclear technology, particularly to the governments of Iran, Syria, or any other state sponsor of terrorism, or to Burma; (2) is no longer 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 (3) is no longer engaged in the counterfeiting of United States currency supernotes (4) is no longer engaged in the international trafficking of illicit narcotics into the United States, Japan, Australia, or other allied countries of the United States; (5) has returned the last remains of United States permanent resident, Reverend Kim Dong-shik, to his United States citizen family and church members, so that he may be provided with a proper Christian burial in Chicago; (6) 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; (7) 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; (8) has made concrete provisions for unrestricted family reunification meetings for those individuals among the two-million strong Korean-American community who maintain family ties with relatives inside North Korea; (9) 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 (ICRC); (10) 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; (11) has made concrete provisions for unrestricted contact, including direct communications and meetings, between representatives of international and South Korean religious organizations, including Christians and Buddhists, and their co-believers inside North Korea; (12) has offered apologies to the government and people of the Republic of Korea for the deaths that North Korea inflicted due to the unprovoked attacks on the South Korean naval vessel Cheonan on March 26, 2010, and on the island of Yeonpyeong-do on November 23, 2010; and (13) is no longer engaged in cyber-attacks against the United States, its government, infrastructure, entities, or citizens, or those of its allies. (d) Sense of congress It is the sense of Congress that, in light of the congressional finding described in subsection (a), the Secretary of State should redesignate North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism immediately upon the date of the enactment of this Act. (e) State sponsor of terrorism defined In this section, the term state sponsor of terrorism 4. Continuation of diplomatic nonrecognition of North Korea (a) Finding Congress finds that the United States did not grant diplomatic recognition to North Korea upon its establishment as a client regime of the former Soviet Union in 1948. The United States has consistently continued to withhold such formal diplomatic recognition during the 61 years since the sudden and unprovoked attack by North Korean forces on the Republic of Korea on June 25, 1950, an attack which led directly to the Korean War and the deaths of over 36,000 United States military personnel as well as at least 2,000,000 Koreans and over 3,000 soldiers from Allied countries. (b) Continuation of diplomatic nonrecognition No funds may be expended for the establishment of a United States diplomatic presence in North Korea, including an Embassy, Consulate, or liaison office, until such time as the President certifies to Congress that the Government of North Korea has met all of the benchmarks specified in section 3. 5. International response to a North Korean missile launch or nuclear test Given North Korea’s third nuclear weapons test on February 12, 2013, in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1695, 1718, 1874, and 2087, the President shall instruct the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations to use the voice, vote, and influence of the United States to secure adoption of a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning North Korea’s action as a violation of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1695, 1718, 1874, and 2087 and requiring the implementation of comprehensive sanctions and an inspection regime against North Korea.

Summary: North Korea Sanctions and Diplomatic Nonrecognition Act of 2015 Continues diplomatic, economic, and military sanctions against the government of North Korea as a supporter of international terrorism until the President certifies to Congress that North Korea: is no longer engaged in the illegal transfer of missile or nuclear technology, particularly to Iran, Syria, or Burma; is not assisting foreign terrorist organizations, engaged in counterfeiting U.S. currency, or engaged in illicit narcotics traffic; has returned the last remains of Reverend Kim Dong-shik to the United States; has released abducted Japanese nationals and surviving Korean War prisoners of war; has undertaken specified actions regarding family reunification, penal reforms, refugee access, and religious organization communications; and is no longer engaged in cyber-attacks against the United States, its government, infrastructure, entities, or citizens, or those of its allies. Expresses the sense of Congress that the Secretary of State should redesignate North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism. Finds that the United States did not grant diplomatic recognition to North Korea upon its establishment as a client regime of the former Soviet Union in 1948. Continues diplomatic nonrecognition of North Korea until such benchmarks have been met. Directs the President, given North Korea's third nuclear weapons test on February 12, 2013, in violation of U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1695, 1718, 1874, and 2087 to instruct the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations to use U.S. influence to secure adoption of a Security Council resolution condemning North Korea's action as a violation of such Resolutions and requiring implementation of comprehensive sanctions and an inspection regime against North Korea.