Tag Archives: North Korea

Proposed North Korea sanctions dig deep, implementation falls to China

SEOUL (Reuters) – From inspecting visiting North Korean ships to paring back coal imports, the burden of enforcing new U.N. sanctions on Pyongyang falls mainly on China, which wants to punish its ally for nuclear violations without squeezing it to the point of crisis.

After nearly two months of negotiations between Washington and Beijing, China agreed on Thursday to a U.S. proposal that would dramatically tighten existing restrictions on North Korea after its Jan. 6 nuclear test and recent rocket launch.

The draft, seen by Reuters, would require U.N. member states to conduct mandatory inspections of all cargo passing through their territory to or from North Korea and bans all gold exports, as well as exports of coal if proceeds fund the North’s weapons programs.

For China, which accounts for 90 percent of North Korean trade, that means stepping up inspections at sea ports such as Dalian and in the border city of Dandong, through which much of the trade between the countries passes.

China, which defended North Korea in the 1950-53 Korean War, is Pyongyang’s closest ally and largest trading partner. While it has become increasingly critical of the North’s nuclear and missiles programs, it prizes stability on the Korean peninsula.

“It might look like China is cooperating, but that’ll just be on the surface,” said Kim Dong-yub at Kyungnam University’s Institute of Far Eastern Studies in Seoul.

The two countries share a fairly porous 870-mile border where both legal and illicit trade has grown in recent years, and off-the-books trade accounts for a significant share of commerce between the two.

“Until these trade routes are shut off, the structure there makes it too difficult for sanctions to effectively kick in,” said Kim.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said China believes the new sanctions should be aimed at reining in North Korea’s nuclear and missile program, and should not affect ordinary people, and that what is most needed is to get negotiations back on track.

Asked about criticism China had not fully enforced previous sanctions, Hong disagreed. “China consistently strictly abides by its relevant decisions,” he said.

AT THE COAL FACE

The draft resolution targets impoverished North Korea’s heavy reliance on mineral exports by banning the sale or transfer of North Korean coal, iron and iron ore if profits are deemed to be spent on its nuclear or missile programs.

Minerals for sale which are “exclusively for livelihood purposes” are exempted, which analysts said would be impossible to monitor.

“You can’t determine which part of the mineral trade is related to people’s livelihoods or not,” said Choi Kyung-soo, head of the North Korea Resources Institute in Seoul, who made dozens of trips to North Korean state mines between 2001 and 2008 as part of an inter-Korean cooperation team.

China imported $852 million worth of North Korean coal last year and $73 million worth of iron ore, according to Chinese customs data.

Last year, North Korean coal deliveries to China surged 26.9 pct to 19.63 million tonnes, making North Korea China’s third biggest supplier behind Australia and Indonesia. Coal deliveries from Australia plunged 25 percent, indicating the increase in imports may have been to help support its ally.

‘HUMANITARIAN PROBLEM’

Jin Qiangyi of China’s Yanbian University, near the North Korean border, told Reuters there was a “real possibility” such far-reaching sanctions on top of an already moribund economy could create a “humanitarian problem”, and affect China’s ability to safely implement the proposed sanctions.

“China has to think about what will happen to the North Korean economy, whether there will be other problems,” said Jin.

Critics of sanctions argue they would stifle the country’s fledgling economy and hurt ordinary North Koreans.

A senior Western diplomat in Beijing who declined to be identified said China remains wary of cutting off North Korea completely, and insists ordinary North Koreans should not be punished for the behavior of their leader.

The draft resolution also proposes banning all exports of aviation fuel to North Korea, except for in “essential” and “humanitarian” cases, which could make it difficult stage an air show planned for September in the port city of Wonsan that is to include aerobatic displays by the North Korean air force.

Much of North Korea’s aviation fuel appears to come from China. In 2015, the isolated country spent $876.6 million importing 1,414 tonnes of Chinese jet fuel according to Chinese customs data – enough for North Korea to operate its fleet of largely Soviet-era military aircraft.

“The draft is very strong and, if adopted as now written, was definitely worth the wait it took to plug loopholes and toughen restrictions on transport and finance,” William Newcomb, a former member of the United Nations Panel of Experts on North Korea, told Reuters.

“Implementation remains a challenge, however. Not even all members of the Security Council have implemented past resolutions”.

(Additional reporting by David Stanway, Megha Rajagopalan and Ben Blanchard in BEIJING and Louis Charbonneau and Michelle Nichols at the UNITED NATIONS; Editing by Tony Munroe and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

U.S. test-fires ICBMs to stress its power to Russia, North Korea

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (Reuters) – The U.S. military test-fired its second intercontinental ballistic missile in a week on Thursday night, seeking to demonstrate its nuclear arms capacity at a time of rising strategic tensions with Russia and North Korea.

The unarmed Minuteman III missile roared out of a silo at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California late at night, raced across the sky at speeds of up to 15,000 mph and landed a half hour later in a target area 4,200 miles away near Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands of the South Pacific.

Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work, who witnessed the launch, said the U.S. tests, conducted at least 15 times since January 2011, send a message to strategic rivals like Russia, China and North Korea that Washington has an effective nuclear arsenal.

“That’s exactly why we do this,” Work told reporters before the launch.

“We and the Russians and the Chinese routinely do test shots to prove that the operational missiles that we have are reliable. And that is a signal … that we are prepared to use nuclear weapons in defense of our country if necessary.”

Demonstrating the reliability of the nuclear force has taken on additional importance recently because the U.S. arsenal is near the end of its useful life and a spate of scandals in the nuclear force two years ago raised readiness questions.

The Defense Department has poured millions of dollars into improving conditions for troops responsible for staffing and maintaining the nuclear systems. The administration also is putting more focus on upgrading the weapons.

President Barack Obama’s final defense budget unveiled this month calls for a $1.8 billion hike in nuclear arms spending to overhaul the country’s aging nuclear bombers, missiles, submarines and other systems.

The president’s $19 billion request would allow the Pentagon and Energy Department to move toward a multiyear overhaul of the atomic arms infrastructure that is expected to cost $320 billion over a decade and up to 1 trillion dollars over 30 years.

The nuclear spending boost is an ironic turn for a president who made reducing U.S. dependence on atomic weapons a centerpiece of his agenda during his first years in office.

Obama called for a world eventually free of nuclear arms in a speech in Prague and later reached a new strategic weapons treaty with Russia. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in part based on his stance on reducing atomic arms.

“He was going to de-emphasize the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. national security policy … but in fact in the last few years he has emphasized new spending,” said John Isaacs of the Council for a Livable World, an arms control advocacy group.

Critics say the Pentagon’s plans are unaffordable and unnecessary because it intends to build a force capable of deploying the 1,550 warheads permitted under the New START treaty. But Obama has said the country could further reduce its deployed warheads by a third and still remain secure.

Hans Kristensen, an analyst at the Federation of American Scientists, said the Pentagon’s costly “all-of-the-above” effort to rebuild all its nuclear systems was a “train wreck that everybody can see is coming.” Kingston Reif of the Arms Control Association, said the plans were “divorced from reality.”

The Pentagon could save billions by building a more modest force that would delay the new long-range bomber, cancel the new air launched cruise missile and construct fewer ballistic submarines, arms control advocates said.

Work said the Pentagon understood the financial problem. The department would need $18 billion a year between 2021 and 2035 for its portion of the nuclear modernization, which is coming at the same time as a huge “bow wave” of spending on conventional ships and aircraft, he said.

“If it becomes clear that it’s too expensive, then it’s going to be up to our national leaders to debate” the issue, Work said, something that could take place during the next administration when spending pressures can no longer be ignored.

(Reporting by David Alexander; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and John Stonestreet)

U.S. proposes sharp ramping up of North Korea sanctions at U.N.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The United States presented a draft Security Council resolution on Thursday it negotiated with China that would dramatically tighten existing restrictions on North Korea after its Jan. 6 nuclear test and create the toughest U.N. sanctions regime in over two decades.

The draft, seen by Reuters, would require U.N. member states to conduct mandatory inspections of all cargo passing through their territory to or from North Korea to look for illicit goods. Previously states were only required to do this if they had reasonable grounds to believe there was illicit cargo.

The United States used the nearly two months of bilateral negotiations that at one point involved President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart, diplomats said, to win China’s support for unusually tough measures intended to persuade its ally North Korea to abandon its atomic weapons program.

The proposal would close a gap in the U.N. arms embargo on Pyongyang by banning all weapons imports and exports.

There would also be an unprecedented ban on the transfer to North Korea of any item that could directly contribute to the operational capabilities of the North Korean armed forces, such as trucks that could be modified for military purposes.

Other proposed measures include a ban on all supplies of aviation and rocket fuel to North Korea, a requirement for states to expel North Korean diplomats engaging in illicit activities, and blacklisting 17 North Korean individuals and 12 entities, including the National Aerospace Development Agency or ‘NADA’, the body responsible for February’s rocket launch.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power told reporters the new measures, if approved, would be “the strongest set of sanctions imposed by the Security Council in more than two decades.”

Several council diplomats predicted a Saturday meeting to adopt the draft but Russian deputy U.N. ambassador Petr Iliichev told Reuters Moscow needed time to study the draft and the earliest likely vote would be next week. The draft was the result of seven weeks of tough negotiations between the United States and China, North Korea’s neighbor and main ally.

“This is a very robust resolution,” a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity. “Clearly this took a long time … it was a difficult process.”

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CHINA, U.S.

North Korea has been under U.N. sanctions since 2006 because of its multiple nuclear tests and rocket launches.

China and the United States had differed on how strongly to respond to Pyongyang’s most recent test, with Washington urging harsh punitive measures and Beijing emphasizing dialogue and milder U.N. steps confined to non-proliferation.

The Global Times, an influential Chinese tabloid published by the ruling Communist Party, said in an editorial that North Korea “deserves the punishment” of new sanctions, but China should “cushion Washington’s harsh sanctions to some extent.”

“China insists the sanctions should focus on striking North Korea’s ability to continue developing nuclear weapons. It is the fundamental difference between China’s policy and that of the U.S., South Korea and Japan. China holds unswerving goodwill toward North Korea, which Chinese society hopes Pyongyang can understand,” it said.

Diplomats said a sharp tightening of restrictions was necessary since Pyongyang has proved its determination to flout at all costs attempts at constraining its nuclear and missile programs.

They said they hoped the latest measures would make it harder for North Korea to continue with that policy, keeping up the pressure on the country’s leadership without making the country’s impoverished population any poorer.

“Pyongyang has prioritized the pursuit of these massively expensive programs over absolutely everything else,” the U.S. official said. “So is New York action going to automatically convince the regime’s leaders to cease? I think we’re realistic on that point.”

However, he added that “this resolution will be felt, it will have an impact … The DPRK (North Korea) have never been subject to the kind of pressure that is in the resolution.”

Power said the measures were aimed at the country’s leadership, and “careful not to punish the North Korean people.”

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular press briefing on Thursday: “We hope and believe this new resolution can help effectively constrain North Korea from further developing its nuclear missile program”.

There will also be further restrictions aimed at making it more difficult for North Korea to press ahead with its nuclear and missile programs. Pyongyang is currently banned from importing and exporting nuclear and missile technology and is not allowed to import luxury goods. The list of banned items will be expanded.

The U.S. official said one of five annexes to the resolution lists 31 ships owned by North Korean shipping firm Ocean Maritime Management Company Limited, which will be blacklisted.

Also new, countries will be required, not just encouraged, to freeze the assets of North Korean entities linked to Pyongyang’s nuclear or missile programs and to prohibit the opening of new branches or offices of North Korean banks or to engage in banking correspondence with North Korean banks.

(Additional reporting by James Pearson in Seoul and Ben Blanchard and Michael Martina in Beijing; Editing by James Dalgleish and Michael Perry)

Sony hackers linked to breaches in 4 other countries, report finds

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – The perpetrators of the 2014 cyber attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment were not activists or disgruntled employees, and likely had attacked other targets in China, India, Japan and Taiwan, according to a coalition of security companies that jointly investigated the Sony case for more than a year.

The coalition, organized by security analytics company Novetta, concluded in a report released on Wednesday that the hackers were government-backed but it stopped short of endorsing the official U.S. view that North Korea was to blame.

The Obama administration has tied the attack on Sony Corp’s film studio to its release of “The Interview,” a comedy that depicted the fictional assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Novetta said the breach “was not the work of insiders or hacktivists.”

“This is very much supportive of the theory that this is nation-state,” Novetta Chief Executive Peter LaMontagne told Reuters. “This group was more active, going farther back, and had greater capabilities and reach than we thought.”

Novetta worked with the largest U.S. security software vendor Symantec Corp, top Russian security firm Kaspersky Lab and at least 10 other institutions on the investigation, a rare collaboration involving so many companies.

They determined that the unidentified hackers had been at work since at least 2009, five years before the Sony breach. The hackers were able to achieve many of their goals despite modest skills because of the inherent difficulty in establishing an inclusive cyber security defense, the Novetta group said.

LaMontagne said the report was the first to tie the Sony hack to breaches at South Korean facilities including a power plant. The FBI and others had previously said the Sony attackers reused code that had been used in destructive attacks on South Korean targets in 2013.

The Novetta group said the hackers were likely also responsible for denial-of-service attacks that disrupted U.S. and South Korean websites on July 24, 2009. The group said it found overlaps in code, tactics and infrastructure between the attacks.

Symantec researcher Val Saengphaibul said his company connected the hackers to attacks late last year, suggesting the exposure of the Sony breach and the threat of retaliation by the United States had not silenced the gang.

The coalition of security companies distributed technical indicators to help others determine if they had been targeted by the same hackers, which Novetta dubbed the Lazarus Group.

(Reporting by Joseph Menn; Editing by Tiffany Wu)

North Korean leader would use WMD, U.S. general tells lawmakers

The leader of North Korea would use a weapon of mass destruction to protect his authority, the general in charge of the United Nations and United States forces in South Korea said Tuesday.

Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, General Curtis M. Scaparrotti, the commander of United Nations Command and United States Forces Korea, said tensions on the Korean Peninsula recently hit a 20-year-high and expressed concerns the North “could quickly escalate” the situation.

Earlier this month, the United Nations Security Council condemned a Feb. 7 North Korean satellite launch that U.N. officials said used the same kind of technology as ballistic missiles.

The launch came about a month after North Korea said it tested a nuclear weapon.

“Kim Jong Un has been clear that he intends to establish himself and wants to be accepted as a nuclear nation with a valid missile capability to deliver those assets,” Scaparrotti told the committee about the North Korean dictator. “He claims he can do that today.”

A senator asked Scaparotti if the general believed Kim would use a long-range nuclear missile against the United States, if the dictator actually had such a weapon at his disposal.

“His stated purpose is to protect his regime and if he thought his regime were challenged, he states that he would use WMD,” Scaparrotti responded.

The general testified tensions between North Korea and South Korea peaked in August, when two South Korean soldiers were wounded in a landmine attack in the demilitarized zone.

This year’s tests prompted the United States to impose additional sanctions on North Korea.

“I think (Kim’s) calculus is, at this point, that those tests that he just conducted in January and February, they were within his risk tolerance,” Scaparrotti told the committee. “That he could conduct those and at some point in the future here, in the next three or four months, move beyond it, just as he has done in the cycle of provocation and relaxation over time, which has been their norm. I do worry about his calculation being wrong at some point.”

The general said it was important the United States and its allies continued to deter conflict, and warned about the potential implications if a North Korean provocation escalated the situation.

In prepared testimony, Scaparrotti said the North has “several hundred ballistic missiles,” one of the world’s largest chemical weapons stockpiles and the fourth-largest military on the planet.

“If deterrence fails, full-scale conflict in Korea would more closely parallel the high intensity combat of the Korean War than the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Scaparrotti said in the written testimony he submitted to the committee. “Furthermore, any conflict with North Korea would significantly increase the threat of the use of weapons of mass destruction.”

Scaparrotti testified North Korea is pursuing several other technological advances.

“He’s developing his cyber capability,” Scaparrotti testified, referring to Kim. “He’s developing a strategic-launch ballistic missile. And he’s developing his air defense capabilities. All of those things, in about five or six years, are going to be a more formidable problem.”

North Korea warns against U.S., South Korea military exercises

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea warned on Tuesday of harsh retaliation against South Korea and its ally the United States, which are preparing for annual joint military exercises next month amid heightened tensions following the North’s nuclear test and rocket launch.

The North calls the annual exercises preparations for war and routinely vows to retaliate.

“All the powerful strategic and tactical strike means of our revolutionary armed forces will go into preemptive and just operation to beat back the enemy forces to the last man if there is a slight sign of their special operation forces and equipment moving to carry out the so-called ‘beheading operation’ and ‘high-density strike,'” the Supreme Command of the Korean People’s Army said in a statement carried by state media.

It said its first target would be South Korea’s presidential Blue House, while U.S. military bases in Asia and on the U.S. mainland would be its secondary targets. About 28,500 U.S. troops are based in South Korea.

Last week, South Korean President Park Geun-hye warned of tough measures against the North following its January nuclear test and its long-range rocket launch this month, saying Pyongyang’s pursuit of nuclear weapons would speed the collapse of the regime.

South Korea and the United States say both actions were violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions, and are pushing for further sanctions.

Days after the rocket launch, South Korea suspended the operation of the Kaesong industrial zone just north of the border, which had been run jointly with the North for more than a decade.

Isolated North Korea and the rich, democratic South are still technically at war after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty.

(Reporting by Tony Munroe and Ju-min Park; Editing by Nick Macfie)

North Korea satellite tumbling in orbit again, U.S. sources say

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – North Korea’s recently launched satellite is once again tumbling in orbit, after stabilizing briefly, according to a U.S. official and other sources.

The satellite update came as a key congressional watchdog agency said the U.S. military had not demonstrated its ability to protect the United States against a possible North Korea missile attack.

Earlier this month North Korea launched what it said was an earth observation satellite but what the country’s neighbors and the United States called a missile test. It was earlier believed to have achieved stable orbit but not to have transmitted data back to Earth.

The U.S. official, and two other sources with knowledge of the issue, said they are less concerned about the function of the satellite than with the technology involved in launching it. They added that the launch was clearly intended to demonstrate North Korea’s ability to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office, the research arm of Congress, highlighted concerns about missile attacks from North Korea in a report released on Wednesday.

“GMD flight testing, to date, was insufficient to demonstrate that an operationally useful defense capability exists,” the GAO said. GMD is an acronym for a ground-based missile defense system.

The report said that the missile defense system, or the Ground-based Midcourse Defense, had only demonstrated “a partial capability against small numbers of simple ballistic missile threats.”

Ken Todorov, former deputy director of the Missile Defense Agency, said the organization faced a difficult balancing act in meeting the needs of the U.S. military and operating with limited resources for testing.

Last month the Missile Defense Agency conducted a successful test of the ground-based U.S. missile defense system managed by Boeing Co aimed at demonstrating the effectiveness of a redesigned “kill vehicle” built by Raytheon Co.

The test purposely did not include an intercept by a ground-based interceptor but was designed to demonstrate the ability of new “divert thrusters” that were developed by Raytheon to maneuver the warhead.

The report said that while there were benefits in the way the agency was acquiring the kill vehicle, challenges remained.

It added that the Pentagon’s goal to reach 44 ground-based missile defense systems by the end of 2017 was based on a “highly optimistic, aggressive schedule” leading to “high-risk acquisition practices.”

(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Andrea Shalal; Editing by Andrew Hay)

U.S. flies F-22 fighters over South Korea after North’s rocket launch

OSAN, South Korea (Reuters) – The United States flew four F-22 stealth fighter jets over South Korea on Wednesday in a show of force following North Korea’s recent rocket launch and ahead of the allies’ joint military drills next month aimed at deterring Pyongyang’s threat.

The flight of the radar-evading F-22s, based in Okinawa, Japan, is the latest deployment of key U.S. strategic military assets to the South after the North defied warnings from world powers and conducted a fourth nuclear test last month.

South Korea and the United States said the North’s rocket launch on Feb. 7 was a long-range missile test and violated U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban the use of ballistic missile technology by the isolated state.

North Korea said it was a satellite launch.

The U.S. military said at the weekend that it had deployed an additional Patriot high-velocity missile interceptor unit to South Korea in response to recent North Korean provocations.

The allies were also expected to begin discussions on the deployment of the advanced Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system.

Last month, the United States flew a B-52 bomber capable of carrying nuclear weapons on a low-level flight over the South following the North’s Jan. 6 nuclear test.

The joint military drills scheduled to start in March, which in most years last eight weeks and involve hundreds of thousands of South Korean and U.S. troops, will be the largest ever, according to South Korean officials.

There are 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in the South as part of combined defense with the South’s military of more than 600,000. The North has an army of 1.2 million.

North Korea claims the annual drills are war preparations. South Korea and the United States say the exercises, which have been conducted for years without major incident, are defensive.

(Writing by Jack Kim; Editing by Michael Perry)

China urges North Korea, U.S. to hold direct talks

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s foreign ministry on Monday urged the United States and North Korea to sit down with each other face-to-face and resolve their problems, as tension continues to climb on the Korean peninsula after North Korea’s latest rocket test.

While China was angered by the launch, it has also expressed concern at plans by Washington and Seoul to deploy an advanced U.S. missile defense system, saying it would impact upon China’s own security.

“The focus of the nuclear issue on the peninsula is between the United States and North Korea,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a daily news briefing.

“We urge the United States and North Korea to sit down and have communications and negotiations, to explore ways to resolve each other’s reasonable concerns and finally reach the goal we all want reached.”

North Korea launched a long-range rocket on Feb. 7 carrying what it called a satellite, drawing renewed international condemnation just weeks after it carried out a nuclear bomb test.

It said the launch was for peaceful purposes, but Seoul and Washington have said it violated United Nations Security Council resolutions because it used ballistic missile technology.

North Korea’s nuclear bomb test last month was also banned by a U.N. resolution.

China, while frustrated by North Korea and having signed up for numerous previous rounds of United Nations sanctions on its isolated neighbor, has said it does not believe sanctions are the way to resolve the problem and has urged a return to talks.

Numerous efforts to restart multilateral talks have failed since negotiations collapsed following the last round in 2008.

Chinese popular opinion has become increasingly fed up with North Korea, a country once a close diplomatic ally.

In an editorial on Monday, the official English-language China Daily called for new U.N. sanctions to “truly bite”.

“The threat of a nuclear-armed DPRK is more real than ever,” it said, using the North’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Hong repeated that North Korea would have to “pay a price” for its behavior.

Tension persists on the Korean peninsula.

Last Wednesday, South Korea suspended operations at the Kaesong industrial zone just inside North Korea, as punishment for the rocket launch and nuclear test.

The North on Thursday called the action “a declaration of war” and expelled the South’s workers. Kaesong, which had operated for more than a decade, was the last venue for regular interaction between the divided Koreas.

Asked about the zone’s shutdown, Chinese spokesman Hong said the peninsula was in a “complex and sensitive” phase.

“We hope all sides can take steps to ameliorate the tense situation,” he said.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

House backs tighter North Korea sanctions, sends bill to Obama

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed legislation on Friday broadening sanctions against North Korea, sending the measure to President Barack Obama to sign into law.

Lawmakers said they wanted to make Washington’s resolve clear to Pyongyang, but also to the United Nations and other governments – especially China, North Korea’s lone major ally and main business partner.

The sanctions would target not just North Korea but also those who do business with it.

The vote was 408-2, following a 96-0 vote in the Senate on Wednesday.

Impatient with what they see as Obama’s failure to respond to North Korean provocations, many of his fellow Democrats as well as the Republicans who control Congress have been clamoring for a clamp down since Pyongyang tested a nuclear device in January.

Pressure for congressional action further intensified after last weekend’s satellite launch by North Korea.

Obama is not expected to veto the bill, given its huge support in Congress. Ben Rhodes, his deputy national security adviser, said the White House would review the measure but does not oppose Congress’ efforts.

“I think this is an area where we and Congress are in the same space and agree on the need for increased sanctions,” Rhodes said at an event at the Center for American Progress on Thursday.

The legislation would sanction anyone who engages in, facilitates or contributes to North Korea’s proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, arms-related materials, luxury goods, human rights abuses, activities undermining cyber security and the provision of materials for such activities.

Penalties include the seizure of assets, visa bans and denial of government contracts.

Unusually, the measure makes most of the sanctions mandatory, rather than giving the president the option to impose them. He can temporarily waive them by making the case that doing so would threaten national security.

The House had backed the sanctions measure 418-2 in January, but the Senate included some new provisions, including cyber security measures, in its version, sending it back to the House.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Richard Cowan and Bill Trott)