North Korea Sanctions Enforcement Act of 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I want to also reiterate the bipartisanship in which this legislation has been brought to the floor through the work of the chairman and the ranking member, who are experts in foreign affairs and especially countries like North Korea.

Mr. Speaker, when I had a chance last year to visit with the Pacific Command, I talked to the four-star Admiral in Pacific Command and asked him this question: Of the five entities that are threats to the United States--Russia, China, Iran, ISIS, and North Korea--which of those concerns you the most? He quickly said: North Korea. Because they are an unstable regime.

This legislation will help, hopefully, have that unstable dictator, who murders his own people, is trigger happy, and is developing all types of weapons and puts them on the open market to sell them to other nations that want to cause mischief in the world, stop this conduct in North Korea.

Yes, North Korea has nuclear weapons. They are developing missiles to deliver those nuclear weapons. About a year or a year and a half ago, the dictator of North Korea said he wanted that first intercontinental ballistic missile to go to Austin, Texas. I take that a little personal, Mr. Speaker. I don't know why he picked Austin. Anyway, they are working on their delivery capability. They have no intention of stopping.

So, the international community must tell the dictator of North Korea: You can't do this. You can't be a menace to not only your own people, or the people in South Korea and the entire region, but the world.

This legislation is an important step in stopping the mischief-making and trigger-happy dictator of North Korea.

And that is just the way it is.

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