WASHINGTON D.C., USA (Reuters) — The U.S. Senate voted unanimously on Wednesday (February 10) to toughen sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear program, human rights record and cyber activities, as U.S. lawmakers sought to crack down on Pyongyang for its nuclear tests.
“Weak sanctions against North Korea have clearly proven unsuccessful. The legislation before us today represents the tough response that is necessary to send this message directly. To North Korean leaders, disarm or face severe economic sanctions,” Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar said.
The House of Representatives passed a similar bill last month.
Differences between the two are expected to be resolved quickly and Senate Democrats said they expected President Barack Obama would sign the measure into law.
The White House has not threatened a veto, but a spokesman told reporters he did not have a response to the bill.
Lawmakers said they wanted to make Washington’s resolve clear not just to Pyongyang, but to the United Nations and other governments, especially China, North Korea’s lone major ally and main business partner.
“The United States is going to act. United States Senate tonight is going to pass a very strong sanction bill, very strong message bill, that we do not intend to sit back and let North Korea proliferate their weapons of mass destruction. We also don’t plan to sit back and let them commit gross violations of human rights, we won’t sit back and allow them to attack our intellectual property through cyber attacks and that we are going to act as one united.” Maryland senator Ben Cardin, the panel’s top Democrat said.
The Senate vote for the “North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act” was 96-0.
Backing for the bill was so strong that two Republicans vying to be their party’s 2016 presidential nominee, Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, both left the campaign trail to vote. Senator Bernie Sanders, a Democratic contender, missed the vote.
Congress has been clamoring for a clampdown since Pyongyang tested a nuclear device in January. Its weekend satellite launch fueled the calls.
The Senate bill would sanction anyone who engages in, facilitates or contributes to North Korea’s proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, arms-related materials, luxury goods, human rights abuses, activities undermining cyber security and the provision of materials for such activities.
Penalties include the seizure of assets, visa bans and denial of government contracts.
Unusually, the measure makes most of the sanctions mandatory, rather than giving the president the option to impose them. He can temporarily waive them by making the case that doing so would threaten national security.
