Senators urge action against North Korea-Syria chemical weapons

A group of U.S. Senators recently called on the Trump Administration to take action to stop a “Syria-North Korea sanctions evasion scheme and North Korean efforts to advance Syria’s chemical weapons technology.”

Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX), John Cornyn (R-TX), David Perdue (R-GA), Cory Gardner (R-CO), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), John Kennedy (R-LA), Mike Lee (R-UT), and Pat Toomey (R-PA) sent the letter to U.S. Department of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Department of State Acting Secretary John Sullivan.

“We write to you to express our deep concern regarding a recent United Nations Panel of Experts report that connects North Korea to the Syrian government’s use of chemical weapons against its own people and exposes North Korean sanctions evasion involving Russia and China,” the senators wrote.

The report mentioned the letter says that North Korea supplied Syrian President Assad with acid-resistant tiles, valves, and thermometers, which are all known materials in the construction of chemical weapons factories. It also found that North Korean technicians have been working at known chemical weapons and missile facilities in Syria.

“These findings demonstrate an elaborate and alarming military-venture between rogue, tyrannical states to avoid United States and international sanctions and inflict terror and death upon thousands of innocent people,” the letter said.

The senators requested information on how the Department of State and Department of Treasury plan to raise the chemical weapons and sanctions evasion issues with the United Nations and in other fora. They also asked for information on steps the United States and the international community plan to take to address the issues and whether additional sanctions are under consideration.

“It is imperative that the United States provides a swift and appropriate response to the continued use of chemical weapons used by President Assad and his forces, and works to address the shortcomings in sanctions enforcement,” the senators wrote. “We have seen firsthand the utter failure of tough talk, followed by hollow action, which the Obama Administration employed to combat the Assad regime.”