Sen. Menendez Speaks on His North Korea Sanctions Legislation

Statement

U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, spoke on the Senate floor today as the Senate opened debate on the Gardner-Menendez North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act of 2016. This bipartisan legislation is expected to be voted on and approved by the full Senate this afternoon. Below are his full remarks as prepared for delivery:

"Given the North Korean Regime's recent test of what most agree is a ballistic missile -- what UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon characterized as "deeply deplorable" and in violation of Security Council resolutions -- one thing is abundantly clear when you look at this photograph: It is time to take North Korea Seriously.

"For too many years, the standard response of Republican and Democratic administrations alike -- whenever North Korea stages a provocation -- has been to dismiss the seriousness of the threat. We tend to see it as a strange regime seemingly disconnected from geopolitical reality -- something of a parallel universe that doesn't function in the same way as the rest of the international community, a strange regime run by crazy leaders and certain to collapse any day -- that there's no need to worry it won't and it can't survive.

"Well, four nuclear tests, three Kims, two violations of United Nations Security Council Resolutions and one attempt by North Korea to transfer nuclear technology to Syria later -- it is clearly time for the United States to start taking the North Korea challenge seriously.

"In fact, today it is estimated that North Korea has accumulated enough fissile material for more than a dozen nuclear weapons. It has now conducted four nuclear explosive tests -- as you can see from this chart. It has developed a modern gas-centrifuge-uranium-enrichment program to go along with its plutonium stockpile. It has tested ballistic missiles. And it is seeking to develop the capability to match a nuclear warhead to an intercontinental ballistic missile.

"Kim Jong-un has consolidated his grip on power and seems determined to proceed on a course of Byungjin, Kim Jong Un's policy that strengthens both his military and his economy -- as opposed to strengthening one or the other.

"Taken together, these developments present a growing danger that could set North Korea on a path to becoming a small nuclear power -- a scenario which could also lead other nations in the region to reconsider their own commitments to nonproliferation and it could embolden North Korea in its relations with other bad actors -- like Syria and Iran.

"Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper -- in testimony before the Armed Services Committee said: "North Korea's export of ballistic missiles and associated materials to several countries, including Iran and Syria, and its assistance to Syria's construction of a nuclear reactor, destroyed in 2007, illustrate its willingness to proliferate dangerous technologies."

"Director Clapper went on to say that -- Following North Korea's third nuclear test, Pyongyang said it would "refurbish and restart" its nuclear facilities, to include the uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon -- shut down in 2007 -- and that it has followed through by expanding its Yongbyon enrichment facility and restarting the plutonium production reactor which has been online long enough to begin recovering plutonium from spent fuel within weeks or maybe months.

"He told the Committee -- and I quote -- "Pyongyang is also committed to developing a long-range, nuclear-armed missile that is capable of posing a direct threat to the United States; it has publicly displayed its KN08 road-mobile ICBM on multiple occasions. We assess that North Korea has already taken initial steps toward fielding this system."

"Finally, M. President, according to the Director of National Intelligence -- and I quote --"North Korea probably remains capable and willing to launch disruptive or destructive cyberattacks to support its political objectives."

"Though it hasn't received the attention it deserves during today's debate, the Gardner/Menendez substitute addresses the cyber-security threat with robust sanctions against those who control North Korea's cyber warfare apparatus.

"M. President, the adoption of the Gardner-Menendez legislation creates a new policy framework that combines effective sanctions and effective military countermeasures that can stop North Korea's nuclear ambitions, address cyber security issues, and bring some sanity back to the political calculus. It provides a new policy framework that leaves no doubt about our determination to neutralize any threat North Korea may present -- with robust, realistic diplomacy toward the clear goal of a denuclearized Korean Peninsula.

"This bipartisan bill, approved unanimously by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in January, expands and tightens enforcement of sanctions for North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile development and other destructive activities of the Kim regime. It requires the president to investigate sanctionable conduct, including proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), arms-related materials, luxury goods, human rights abuses, activities undermining cyber security and the provision of industrial materials like precious metals or coal for use in a tailored set of activities, including WMD, proliferation activities, or for use in prison and labor camps.

"Under Gardner/Menendez, the president is mandated to sanction any person found to have materially contributed to, engaged in, or facilitated any of the above activities. Penalties would include the seizure of assets, visa bans and denial of government contracts.

"To provide some flexibility, we have ensured that this and future Administrations retain the discretionary authority to sanction any entity or person transferring or facilitating the transfer of financial assets and property of the North Korean regime. The President may waive sanctions, but only on a case-by-case basis. The bill also requires the Secretary of Treasury to determine whether North Korea is a primary money laundering concern, and -- if such a determination is made -- assets must be blocked and special measures applied against those involved.

"From a strategic perspective, the bill would promote a strategy to improve implementation and enforcement of multilateral sanctions; a strategy to combat North Korean cyber activities; and a strategy to promote and encourage international engagement on North Korean human rights-related issues. There are reporting requirements related to these strategies as well as a report on political prison camps and a feasibility study on providing communications equipment to the people of North Korea. And last but not least, under Gardner/Menendez, the State Department is required to expand the scope and frequency of travel warnings for North Korea.

"Beyond concerns with North Korea's nuclear and missile program, one of my main concerns is that there remain serious, unanswered questions about human rights and the lot of the North Korean people. We need only read the headlines like the ones on this chart: Life in a North Korea Labor Camp -- No Thinking, Just Fear; Kim's Former Bodyguard Tells of Beatings, Starvation In North Korea Prison Camp, North Korean Prison Camp Is One Of The Most Evil Places On Earth -- Home To 20,000

"Under the rule of Kim Jong-un, North Korea is one of the most harshly repressive countries in the world. All basic freedoms have been severely restricted under the Kim family's political dynasty. A 2014 UN Commission of Inquiry found that abuses in North Korea were without parallel in any other country -- extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions, and unspeakable sexual violence are part of the ongoing story of this bizarre regime.

"We know that North Korea operates a series of secretive prison camps where opponents of the government are sent tortured and abused, starved on insufficient rations and forced into hard-labor. Collective punishment is used to silence dissent and instill fear in the North Korean people that they could be next. The country has no independent media. It has no functioning civil society. There is of course, not even a hint of religious freedom -- except for the bizarre worship of the line from which Kim Jong-un hails.

"That is the reality, making it abundantly clear that -- though security concerns may be our most important priority on the Peninsula -- they are not and should not be our only priority.

"The legislation Senator Gardner and I are proposing creates -- for the first time -- the basis in law to designate and sanction North Korea for its human rights violations. Such sanctions would elevate human rights and the fundamental issue of human dignity to be as important as nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

"At the end of the day, there is no basis for successfully dealing with the North absent a solid foundation for policy rooted in the U.S. -- South Korea Alliance. In President Park we have an important partner, someone we can easily consult with and work closely with to chart out a future course in dealing with North Korea. And our partnership with Japan presents new opportunities for building a more effective approach to dealing with Pyongyang.

"Whatever one's views on the various U.S. policy efforts of the past two decades -- what has worked and what has not worked and why -- there can be little question that these efforts have failed to end North Korea's nuclear ambitions or end its missile programs. They have failed to reduce the threat posed by North Korea to our allies, failed to alleviate the suffering of North Korea's people and failed to lead to greater security in the region.

"Let me be clear. I have no illusions that there are easy answers when it comes to dealing with a regime like North Korea. But with the passage of this legislation we will have acted in concert with our values. We will have established a policy for dealing with an unpredictable rogue regime equal to the challenge -- and I urge a unanimous vote because it's not enough to condemn North Korea's latest provocation, which is, by all accounts, a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions and international will.

"It's not enough to convene the UNSC for another round of hollow rhetoric that does nothing to the Kim regime but signal a lack of international commitment to enforcing international will. It's not enough to do what we have always done and minimize the obvious threat from a rogue state living in its own false reality.

"As the coauthor of the sanctions that brought Iran to the negotiating table, I know that the sanctions regime we are structuring here can have a real effect. Those who want to deal with North Korea and North Korea's pursuit of missile technology and nuclear weapons will see a consequence to them -- far beyond North Korea.

"With this bipartisan legislation, we have before us a series of meaningful steps that speak the only language North Korea's regime can understand: aggressive, material consequences for aggressive, reckless provocations. This legislation is the most comprehensive strategy to deal with the challenge that North Korea presents.

"The launch over the weekend and recent nuclear tests makes it clear that we should have acted when I introduced this bill last year. We didn't, but we can now.

"I urge the Senate -- I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle -- to move quickly and unanimously to pass the North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act. I urge our colleagues in the other Chamber to concur and I look forward to the President signing it into law.

"And, if the international community is serious about meeting the threat North Korea poses, we should see measures like this Act adopted by the United Nations and implemented by all of its member states.

"The international community should stand together with a single voice and one clear message: Any provocation will be met with consequences that will shake the Kim regime to its foundations."

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