I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 479 
To require a report on the designation of the Democratic People’s Republic 
of Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 12, 2017 
Mr. POE of Texas (for himself and Mr. SHERMAN) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
A BILL 
To require a report on the designation of the Democratic 
People’s Republic of Korea as a state sponsor of ter-
rorism, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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 TER-
RORISM. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
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(1) The Government of North Korea was des-
ignated a state sponsor of terrorism on January 20, 
1988, for repeatedly providing support of acts of 
international terrorism. 
(2) However, on October 11, 2008, North Ko-
rea’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism was 
rescinded, following commitments by the Govern-
ment of North Korea to completely, verifiably, and 
irreversibly dismantle its nuclear weapons program, 
yet North Korea has failed to live up to these com-
mitments and is continuing to produce ever greater 
quantities of fissile material for nuclear weapons and 
periodically conduct testing of nuclear explosive de-
vices. 
(3) Consequences of a state sponsors of ter-
rorism designation include a ban on arms-related ex-
ports and sales; restrictions on exports of dual-use 
items; restrictions on foreign assistance; financial 
sanctions against transactions with the designated 
government; imposition of miscellaneous trade and 
other restrictions; and potential liability in United 
States courts for acts that fall within the terrorism 
exception of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. 
The criminal code also prohibits financial trans-
actions by United States persons with any govern-
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ment designated as a state sponsor of terrorism. 
Issuers of securities must disclose in their public fil-
ings any investments in states whose governments 
sponsor terrorism. Finally, a designation requires 
United States representatives to oppose any benefits 
or extensions of credit to any designated government 
by international financial institutions. 
(4) On October 22, 2015, Ambassador Sung 
Kim, Special Representative for North Korea Policy 
with the U.S. Department of State, testified before 
the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Ter-
rorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade that North Ko-
rea’s ‘‘conduct poses a growing threat to the United 
States, our friends in the region, and the global non-
proliferation regime’’ and Ms. Hilary Batjer John-
son, Deputy Coordinator for Homeland Security, 
Screening, and Designations with the U.S. Depart-
ment of State noted that ‘‘weapons transfers that 
violate nonproliferation or missile control regimes 
could be a relevant factor for consideration, depend-
ing on the circumstances, consistent with the statu-
tory criteria for designation as a state sponsor of 
terrorism’’. 
(5) The Government of North Korea has har-
bored members of the Japanese Red Army since a 
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sponsors of terrorism for their support of Hamas 
and Hezbollah. The Department of State’s 2005, 
2007, 2010, 2012, and 2013 ‘‘Country Reports’’ all 
cited Iran and Syria for supplying weapons to 
Hezbollah through Syrian territory, and most of 
them also cited Iran’s training of Hezbollah. 
(9) 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 des-
ignated foreign terrorist organization, against Israel 
in 2006. 
(10) In December 2009, a North Korean arms 
shipment aboard an Ilyushin Il–76 cargo plane was 
discovered and seized by authorities of the Govern-
ment of Thailand. The cargo, which was marked as 
consisting of oil-drilling equipment, contained 35 
tons of rockets, surface-to-air missiles (MANPADS), 
explosives, rocket-propelled grenades, and other 
weaponry. A similar shipment was impounded in the 
United Arab Emirates a few months earlier in July 
2009. A third shipment was intercepted by the 
Israeli government in the Eastern Mediterranean in 
November 2009. According to published media re-
ports, United States and Israeli intelligence agencies 
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concluded that the shipments were destined for Ira-
nian-backed terrorists, including Hezbollah, Hamas, 
and the Quds Force. Another large quantity of ship-
ments to both Hamas and Hezbollah, is believed to 
have been transferred unnoticed. 
(11) In June 2010, Major Kim Myong-ho and 
Major Dong Myong-gwan of North Korea’s Recon-
naissance General Bureau pled guilty in a South Ko-
rean 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 Bu-
reau. The court sentenced each defendant to 10 
years in prison. 
(12) In July 2014, press reports indicated that 
militants from Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist 
organization, attempted to negotiate a new arms 
deal with North Korea for missiles and communica-
tions equipment that would have allowed the mili-
tants to maintain their armed terrorist attacks 
against Israel. Security officials announced that the 
deal between Hamas and North Korea was worth 
hundreds of thousands of dollars and was handled 
by a Lebanese-based trading company. 
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(13) On November 24, 2014, a hacker group 
that identified itself as the ‘‘Guardians of Peace’’ 
leaked confidential data from the film studio Sony 
Pictures Entertainment. The data included personal 
information about Sony Pictures employees, e-mails 
between employees, information about executive sala-
ries at the company, copies of then-unreleased Sony 
films, and other information. 
(14) On December 16, 2015, the ‘‘Guardians of 
Peace’’ sent a message to Sony Pictures, to ‘‘clearly 
show it to you at the very time and places ‘The 
Interview’ be shown . . . how bitter fate those who 
seek fun in terror should be doomed to’’. The mes-
sage further stated, ‘‘The world will be full of fear’’, 
‘‘[. . .] Remember the 11th of September 2001’’, 
and ‘‘We recommend you to keep yourself distant 
from the places at that time.’’. The threat caused 
theaters across the United States to cancel showings 
of ‘‘The Interview’’ and caused Sony Pictures to 
cancel the release of the film in theaters. 
(15) On December 19, 2015, the Federal Bu-
reau of Investigation concluded that North Korea 
was responsible for the cyber attack on Sony Pic-
tures Entertainment and the threat against the 
movie theaters, and that the ‘‘Guardians of Peace’’ 
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was a unit of North Korea’s Reconnaissance General 
Bureau, its foreign intelligence service. 
(16) In March 2015, the South Korean govern-
ment publicly accused North Korea of responsibility 
for a December 2014 cyber attack against multiple 
nuclear power plants in South Korea, 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’’. 
(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. North Korea 
has failed to live up to its 2008 commitments to verifiably 
dismantle its nuclear weapons program and appears to 
have continued to support acts of international terrorism 
after its removal from the list of state sponsors of ter-
rorism in October 2008. 
(c) REPORT; DETERMINATION OR JUSTIFICATION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 
of State shall submit to the appropriate congres-
sional committees a report that finds whether— 
(A)(i) with respect to each of the acts de-
scribed in paragraphs (5) through (16) of sub-
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section (a), the Government of North Korea, in-
cluding any agents or instrumentalities of the 
Government of North Korea, directly or indi-
rectly, committed, conspired to commit, at-
tempted, aided, or abetted such act; and 
(ii) since October 2008, the Government of 
North Korea, including any agents or instru-
mentalities of the Government of North Korea, 
directly or indirectly, committed, conspired to 
commit, attempted, aided, or abetted any other 
act 
of 
international 
terrorism, 
including 
through— 
(I) support for any organization des-
ignated as a foreign terrorist organization, 
any entity designated pursuant to Execu-
tive Order 13224, or any entity that other-
wise supports acts of international ter-
rorism; 
(II) direct sponsorship of acts of 
international terrorism; or 
(III) the provision of armaments or 
other controlled goods, services, or tech-
nology to any country the government of 
which is designated as a state sponsor of 
terrorism; and 
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(B) such act constitutes support for inter-
national terrorism. 
(2) DETERMINATION
OR
JUSTIFICATION.—If 
the Secretary of State finds that the Government of 
North Korea, including any agents or instrumental-
ities of the Government of North Korea, directly or 
indirectly, committed, conspired to commit, at-
tempted, aided, or abetted any act described in 
clause (i) or (ii) of paragraph (1)(A) and such act 
constitutes support for international terrorism under 
paragraph (1)(B), the Secretary shall make a deter-
mination of whether, based on the information in the 
report and all other relevant sources, the Govern-
ment of North Korea meets the criteria for designa-
tion as a state sponsor or terrorism, and in the 
event the Secretary does not decide to designate the 
Government of North Korea a state sponsor of ter-
rorism, the Secretary shall provide a detailed jus-
tification for why the Government of North Korea 
should not be designated a state sponsor of ter-
rorism. 
(d) FORM.—The report required by subsection (c)(1) 
shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may include 
a classified annex, if appropriate. 
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