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China-Japan-Koreas
Senate Wants Norks Back on Terror List
2009-07-25
The U.S. Senate on Wednesday made a formal request to the Barack Obama administration to consider re-listing North Korea on a roster of terrorism-sponsoring states since the North poses a threat to other Asian countries. By a vote of 66-31, senators led by John Kerry, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and Carl Levin, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, passed a revised defense budget bill including that request.
Sure it's cheap posturing, but it's potentially useful cheap posturing. But it could have been better if the Senate had just said, let's relabel the Norks as a terrorist state. Alas, that voted failed.
The bill requires a report within 30 days evaluating North Korea's actions in the nine months since it was removed from the list of terrorism sponsoring countries on Oct. 11, 2008. It also calls for a search for evidence of North Korea supporting terrorist groups and an investigation into its record of spreading weapons of mass destruction.

The bill calls North Korea "a threat to peace and security in Northeast Asia and the world," urging the administration to consider additional sanctions if necessary. It contains revisions to an earlier version proposed by hardline Republican Senator Sam Brownback demanding the immediate re-listing on the terror roster.

The passage of the bill shows that the Democrat-led Senate feels the need to take harsher steps against North Korea. The Democrats have taken a relatively cautious stance while Republicans including Brownback and Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen have sought to put North Korea back on the list. Following sanctions against North Korea by the UN Security Council, suspicions have risen over a possible nuclear deal between North Korea and Burma, leading to a more hawkish atmosphere among U.S. lawmakers.

Senator Richard Lugar, an influential Republican in U.S. diplomacy and national security, voiced his suspicion of a North Korea-Burma nuclear deal during the confirmation hearing last month on Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Kurt Campbell. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday during the ASEAN Regional Forum she was "very concerned" about such a deal.

North Korea was taken off the list of terror sponsoring states on condition that it allows international inspectors to verify its nuclear program. It had been on the list since 1988. But North Korea then did not cooperate with international inspectors and later brazenly conducted a second nuclear test, leading to criticism that the U.S. government had been fooled.
Makes you wonder who the 31 were who voted 'no'. After all, this doesn't demand that we re-designate the Norks as a terror state -- that amendment was voted DOWN -- but merely asks Obama to 'consider' it. Sorta like a strongly-worded statement. Turns out the 31 nays are all Republicans who had previously voted 'yea' to calling the Norks a terrorist state. And most of the Democrats who voted 'yea' today had voted 'nay' to calling the Norks a terrorist state.

In other words, while the Dems will point to this resolution as evidence of how 'stern' they are with respect to the Norks, they are, as usual, wimps.
Posted by:Steve White

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