Royce, Wenstrup lead bipartisan letter urging reenlistment of North Korea as state sponsor of terrorism

Citing the recent death of an American student after his release from North Korea and the country’s nuclear threat, U.S. Reps. Ed Royce (R-CA) and Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) called on Tuesday for North Korea to be re-listed as a state sponsor of terrorism.

In a bipartisan letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the lawmakers noted that Kim Jong Un’s regime had repeatedly perpetrated and supported heinous acts — most recently the illegitimate detention and “murderous mistreatment” of American student Otto Warmbier — since North Korea was de-listed as a state sponsor of terrorism in 2008.

“The world looks to the United States to lead in responding to the dangerous nuclear belligerence of Kim Jong Un,” the letter states. “Duly relisting his regime as a state sponsor of terrorism is an important component of this leadership, as it will further the case for our diplomatic and economic isolation campaign, and underscore the importance of cutting ties with North Korea.”

Royce, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Wenstrup, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, added that Kim’s regime had demonstrated a “consistent pattern” of kidnapping foreign citizens, conducting cyberattacks and cyber-blackmail, attempting assassinations across international borders, and selling arms to terrorist groups.

“The 115th Congress has repeatedly demonstrated its broad consensus that North Korea should be re-listed as a state sponsor of terrorism, first by the House’s overwhelming passage of H.R. 479, the North Korea State Sponsor of Terrorism Designation Act, and again by the bicameral passage of H.R. 3364, the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act.”

Royce and Wenstrup were joined by U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and other members of Congress, in authoring the letter to Tillerson.