The two Koreas are in a tense political standoff after the North’s nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch on February 7. The legislation also authorizes $50 million over five years for radio broadcasts into NorthKoreaand humanitarian assistance programs.
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“We expect it to provide a platform for the United States to take strong and effective measures [against North Korea]”, said South Korea’s Foreign Ministry in a statement.
It is also aimed at choking off sources of cash for the regime by sanctioning trade in coal, minerals and precious metals, as well as blacklisting those helping with Pyongyang’s money laundering, counterfeiting, cash smuggling and narcotics trafficking.
The steps approved included the ban on entry of all North Korean-registered ships into Japan and of third-country ships from entering Japan after visiting ports in North Korea.
Numerous targets are likely to be Chinese enterprises.
Currently, the North Korean army shows no signs of engaging in any further provocative activities, it added.
An unidentified South Korean military official was quoted as saying that the military plans to intensively build up anti-terror capabilities in preparation for possible North Korean terror attacks. There were only 13 slogans about North Korea’s relations with South Korea and with the outside world. The new law is titled North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act of 2016. China, a longtime sponsor of Pyongyang, has expressed concerns about measures that it worries could debilitate North Korea’s economy.
Sanctions – Cruz suggests that sanctions have been used in the past to curb Iran and he believes that if the USA imposed sanctions, then it would stop nuclear proliferation.
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Reported by Changsop Pyon and Sungwon Yang of RFA’s Korean Service.
