Royce on FOX: Senate must pass North Korea sanctions immediately
Today on Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom,” Chairman Royce called on the Senate to immediately pass his bill to increase sanctions on North Korea’s Kim regime. He also reaffirmed his commitment to holding Russia and Iran accountable. Below is the video and key excerpts.
The Senate must immediately pass the Korean Interdiction and Modernization of Sanctions Act:
“I have legislation in the Senate right now that passed this House 419-1 that will block any revenues coming into North Korea from their illicit activities, like the use of indentured servitude. Workers [are sent] overseas and then the check is not paid to the workers, it goes to the regime and then right into the nuclear weapons program. That has to be shut down right now, and we have a sanctions bill to do that. The Senate must act on that immediately.”
We must cut off the hard cash Kim Jong Un needs to sustain his rule – and his weapons programs:
“It’s been over in the Senate for a month, and my observation would be that now that we have seen [that] North Korea…tortured Otto [Warmbier], and we’ve seen them also preparing this site potentially for another nuclear weapons test, now more than ever is the time to send the message that we’re going to cut off their capability of getting their hands on the currency they need. [Their nuclear weapons] program costs them about $1.7 billion a year. Well they make over $1 billion just from sending their workers overseas to these countries, which don’t pay the workers but pay the regime in North Korea. Let’s put sanctions on that and end that practice. And we can do that with this legislation.”
“It’s been over in the Senate for a month, and my observation would be that now that we have seen [that] North Korea…tortured Otto [Warmbier], and we’ve seen them also preparing this site potentially for another nuclear weapons test, now more than ever is the time to send the message that we’re going to cut off their capability of getting their hands on the currency they need. [Their nuclear weapons] program costs them about $1.7 billion a year. Well they make over $1 billion just from sending their workers overseas to these countries, which don’t pay the workers but pay the regime in North Korea. Let’s put sanctions on that and end that practice. And we can do that with this legislation.”
Passing H.R. 1644 will send a clear message to the North Korean regime and any who do business with it:
“One of the reasons I want to pass this legislation is because it makes it clear that, if countries are going to continue to subsidize North Korea, they will be sanctioned for that by the United States… If you give a bank in China a choice between doing business with the United States or North Korea, it is a choice between being economically viable versus bankruptcy… They will cut off their business ties with North Korea. And that’s exactly what did happen [with] Banco Delta Asia when the sanctions were put years ago on North Korea because they were discovered to be counterfeiting $100 U.S. bills. At that point in time we sanctioned them, it shut down their capacity to buy parts for their nuclear weapons program, and the dictator couldn’t pay his generals. That’s exactly what we should do.”
“One of the reasons I want to pass this legislation is because it makes it clear that, if countries are going to continue to subsidize North Korea, they will be sanctioned for that by the United States… If you give a bank in China a choice between doing business with the United States or North Korea, it is a choice between being economically viable versus bankruptcy… They will cut off their business ties with North Korea. And that’s exactly what did happen [with] Banco Delta Asia when the sanctions were put years ago on North Korea because they were discovered to be counterfeiting $100 U.S. bills. At that point in time we sanctioned them, it shut down their capacity to buy parts for their nuclear weapons program, and the dictator couldn’t pay his generals. That’s exactly what we should do.”
Congress will also increase sanctions on Russia and Iran for their illicit activities:
“We’re going to move legislation through this House in order to further sanction Russia… It will get done. It has to get done. We have to send this message to Moscow. What Moscow is doing is not only – Putin is doing this – not only is he threatening democracies, but he’s trying to break NATO. And the best counter for us in this regard is to show that we’re going to put additional sanctions on him. And the other half of this bill is additional sanctions on Iran, which has to happen right now because Iran is developing ballistic missiles and an ICBM program so that they could deliver a nuclear weapon. In thirteen years, all of the controls on Iran come off – they’re going to have that nuclear weapon. We cannot allow them to go forward with an ICBM program. So both on Russia and Iran, it has to happen.”
“We’re going to move legislation through this House in order to further sanction Russia… It will get done. It has to get done. We have to send this message to Moscow. What Moscow is doing is not only – Putin is doing this – not only is he threatening democracies, but he’s trying to break NATO. And the best counter for us in this regard is to show that we’re going to put additional sanctions on him. And the other half of this bill is additional sanctions on Iran, which has to happen right now because Iran is developing ballistic missiles and an ICBM program so that they could deliver a nuclear weapon. In thirteen years, all of the controls on Iran come off – they’re going to have that nuclear weapon. We cannot allow them to go forward with an ICBM program. So both on Russia and Iran, it has to happen.”