North Korea Sanctions Enforcement Act of 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, the North Korean dictatorship is an existential threat that requires significantly enhanced vigilance and response.

The North Korea Sanctions Enforcement Act of 2016, authored by Chairman Ed Royce, will ensure that the Obama administration takes meaningful action to mitigate North Korea's cruelty, human rights abuse, and military danger.

The U.S. can no longer sit on the sidelines while Kim Jong-un proliferates nuclear and missile technology and abuses and starves the North Korean people.

North Korea violates every single human right enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. North Korea is listed by the State Department as a tier 3 country with respect to human trafficking. It is designated as one of eight Countries of Particular Concern for engaging in egregious violations of religious freedom.

Mr. Speaker, I have chaired four hearings on human rights abuses in North Korea. It is, as Chairman Royce noted, a house of horrors.

The U.N. Commission of Inquiry on North Korea recommended that the U.N. impose targeted sanctions on North Korean leaders responsible for these crimes against humanity. However, China blocks effective U.N. actions. This, in part, is why the Congress and the administration must act now. North Korean human rights abusers must be identified and listed so that sanctions can be appropriately applied.

North Korea's launch of a long-range rocket last week reenergized concern over that country's intercontinental ballistic missile program. The launch was strongly condemned by the U.N. Security Council, which vowed to apply further sanctions. Hopefully, the Security Council's investigation now underway will also look at partner nations who purchase North Korean missile technology.

Iran, to whom the administration has just released billions of dollars, is one of North Korea's nuclear partners. We should be very concerned about that. At some point, the Iranians will acquire fissile material beyond what they are allowed to produce, they may clandestinely purchase actual warheads from North Korea, or, perhaps, Iran will get enriched uranium--their stash--back from Russia.

At a Foreign Affairs Committee hearing yesterday, Mr. Speaker--and Chairman Royce has had well over 35 oversight hearings on Iran--I asked President Obama's coordinator for implementation of the Iran nuclear deal where Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium was sent. Where did it go? Is it in Russia? What city? Do we--or the IAEA--have onsite access to where it is stored for verifications purposes? Remember President Reagan? He said: Trust and verify. Onsite verification.

Shockingly, Ambassador Mull said he didn't know where the enriched uranium is. He did say it was on a Russian ship somewhere heading to a port or to a final destination. But its specific location--we don't have a clue.

Yesterday's revelation was yet another flaw in an egregiously flawed Iran nuclear deal. We know that there is a connection between North Korea and Iran. So our vigilance must be stepped up significantly. This bill is a major step. It is in fact bipartisan: Eliot Engel, again, working side-by-side with the chairman to make sure a good bill is produced.

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