Senators call for strategic plan, stricter sanctions after latest North Korea missile test

Following North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missile test on Monday, lawmakers called for action on legislation that would require a strategy to confront the nuclear threat and step-up sanctions on North Korea.

U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-IN), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Forces Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, called on President Donald Trump to sign the National Defense Authorization Act, which includes a provision requiring a strategy to address North Korea’s nuclear threat.

“North Korea’s dangerous actions must be met with a clear, comprehensive strategy from the United States. We must show the American people, our service members in the region, and our allies around the world that we are serious about confronting the threat from the Kim regime,” Donnelly said. “My amendment, included in the national defense bill, requires the Administration to bring its strategy to Congress within 90 days. I encourage President Trump to sign the bill immediately.”

Donnelly also included an amendment in the Banking Restrictions Involving North Korea (BRINK) Act, which the Senate Banking Committee recently approved. The amendment would ensure that the Department of Treasury has tools needed to enforce sanctions.

Following Monday’s missile test, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) urged Congress to act on pending legislation that would tighten sanctions on North Korea.

“In testing another intercontinental ballistic missile today, North Korea is attempting to master the capability to deliver a nuclear warhead against the American homeland,” Rubio said. “The United States, South Korea, Japan and other nations, including China, must continue maximizing pressure against the regime in Pyongyang with the goal of achieving the verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. I urge Congress to quickly pass pending bills seeking to increase sanctions against enablers of North Korea’s growing nuclear and missile threats, and to hold the Kim regime fully accountable for its egregious human rights abuses against its own people.”