Sen. Cory Gardner is co-sponsoring new legislation targeting North Korea. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)
WASHINGTON — A North Korean sanctions bill co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner unanimously passed the Senate Foreign Relations committee on Thursday — a move that increases the likelihood Congress will endorse a raft of new penalties for the longtime U.S. adversary.
Notably, the legislation includes mandatory punishments for North Korean cyber-criminals, as well as sanctions for business dealings that involve precious metals that could help Pyongyang and its effort to develop weapons of mass destruction.
This is groundbreaking in terms of its sanctioning of cyber attacks, said Gardner, R-Colo., in a phone interview. And that s important — critically important — because North Korea is improving its asymmetric cyber capabilities.
He said he hoped to see a Senate floor vote by mid-February. Passage would mean the Senate would move into negotiations with the U.S. House, which earlier this month approved its own North Korean sanctions bill .
The House proposal has the same general thrust as the Senate measure, though there are differences — such as the Senate s mandatory imposition of penalties for cyber attacks and the focus on precious metals, said officials in both chambers.
Lawmakers in both parties increasingly have called for a new approach to North Korea in the aftermath of the country s declaration — widely-disputed — that they had successfully tested a .
Joining Gardner are top lawmakers on the Senate Foreign Relations committee, including chairman Bob Corker of Tennessee and Democrats Ben Cardin of Maryland and Bob Menendez of New Jersey.
Whether it is nuclear proliferation, cyber-attacks or human rights violations committed against its own people, North Korea s regime — and now its trading partners — will know that the United States will not stand for it, said Menendez in a statement.
We ve taken an important step today, but the enactment of this bipartisan legislation would represent the most meaningful and comprehensive response toward addressing the threat that North Korea presents to our national security interests and the security interests of our friends and allies,” he added.
