Sen. Gardner calls on Congress to sanction North Korea

U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) is calling upon Congress to increase diplomatic and economic pressure on North Korea following statements from North Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations that the country has no plans to denuclearize.

“Today’s announcement confirms North Korea never had any intention of ending their nuclear ambitions and shows why the U.S. should return to maximum pressure on the Kim regime,” Gardner, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy, said. “I’m calling on Congress to pass the bipartisan LEED Act, which Senator Markey and I introduced to increase diplomatic and economic pressure on North Korea. North Korea will remain a global outcast until it reverses course from a long history of human rights abuses, aggression, and defying international law. I will continue to work with my colleagues and the administration toward peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula that is complete, verifiable, and irreversible.”

The bill — the Leverage to Enhance Effective Diplomacy (LEED) Act – would economically and diplomatically pressure North Korea through the imposition of sanctions. It would also authorize efforts to combat Pyongyang’s widespread human rights and labor trafficking abuses and support the administration’s efforts to find a diplomatic solution to achieve the complete denuclearization of North Korea. The legislation also calls on North Korea to return the U.S.S. Pueblo, which was seized in international waters in January 1968.