Fortenberry: North Korea's Continued Renegade Actions Deeply Disturbing

Press Release

Today Congressman Jeff Fortenberry, co-chair of the House Nuclear Security Caucus and member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, released the following statement in response to international reports of North Korea's second nuclear test and repeated short-range surface-to-air and surface-to-ship missile launches:

"With these actions the world is forewarned. Will it take a nuclear catastrophe to awaken the international community to the danger of ongoing nuclear weapons proliferation?

"North Korea's renegade pursuit of this devastating technology threatens peace and accord within the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia, and harms nonproliferation efforts among the responsible community of nations.

"It is my hope that other nations, particularly China and Russia, will intensify efforts to engage North Korea to find a real solution to quelling this grave force of destabilization."

Fortenberry recently amended the 2009 Foreign Relations Authorization Act to include key nuclear security provisions. The Fortenberry amendment allows for nuclear safeguards to be strengthened by incorporating key recommendations of the bipartisan Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism, including the implementation of near-real-time surveillance and wide-area surveillance at facilities of concern. It would also provide for routine assessment of the International Atomic Energy Agency's ability to meet its inspection goals, and support appropriate means of visitor registry and country-by-country inventory of nuclear materials.

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