Legislation and Laws (U.S.)

Full text of the Otto Warmbier North Korea Nuclear Sanctions Act of 2019, as it appears in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020. Several iterations of the Warmbier Act were introduced as standalone legislation in the Senate and House of Representatives before the bill was attached to the NDAA and passed into law.

The Asia Reassurance Initiative Act of 2018, signed into law on December 31, 2018, includes several sections relevant to U.S. policy toward North Korea. These include:

• A Sense of Congress supporting trilateral security cooperation between the U.S., South Korea, and Japan

• A requirement that, if the executive branch terminates any sanctions with respect to North Korea, the Secretary of State shall submit a report to Congress justifying the termination.

Sections of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act relevant to U.S. policy toward North Korea include a limitation on the use of funds to reduce the number of U.S. service members deployed to South Korea; and a requirement for a report on North Korea's nuclear capabilities. These sections are below:

SEC. 1264. LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS TO REDUCE THE TOTAL NUMBER OF MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES SERVING ON ACTIVE DUTY WHO ARE DEPLOYED TO THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA.

Cosponsored by Representatives Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Joe Wilson (R-SC), this bill seeks to limit travel to North Korea by calling on the Treasury Department to issue regulations that would prohibit travel-related transactions to North Korea unless such transactions have been pre-authorized by a general or specific license from Treasury. The bill specifically prohibits Treasury from authorizing any license if “the primary purpose of such travel is to engage in tourist activities.”

House Resolution introduced by Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) condemning North Korean actions to develop an ICBM, and calling for stronger enforcement of sanctions and other measures to respond. The Resolution passed the House in a 398-3 vote on April 3, 2017.

Joint Congressional resolution, agreed to on December 10, 2016, which encourages North Korea to allow Korean Americans to meet with their family members from North Korea, and calls on North Korea to take concrete steps to build goodwill that is conducive to peace on the Korean Peninsula.

The "Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall of Remembrance Act" was signed into law by President Obama on October 7, 2016 and introduced and championed by Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX), with the support of fellow Korean War veterans, Representatives Charles Rangel and John Conyers. The bill would authorize the creation of a Wall of Remembrance to honor members of the U.S. Armed Forces, the ROK Armed Forces, and other nations of the UN Command who died, were wounded, listed as missing in action, or prisoners of war in the Korean War.

Resolution introduced by Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT) and passed by the House of Representatives expressing ongoing concern about the unsolved disappearance of a US citizen in Yunnan, China in 2004, and urging an investigation that includes consideration of the possibility that he was abducted by North Korea.