The U.S. Congress plans to pass a strong North Korea sanctions bill Friday, days ahead of schedule, to demonstrate its will to punish Pyongyang for its nuclear and missile tests, a South Korean official said.
House leaders moved up the vote to Friday noon (Washington time), reversing an earlier plan to hold a vote on or after Feb. 22, the official told reporters on the condition of anonymity.
The North Korea Sanctions Enforcement Act of 2016 passed the Senate with a 96-0 vote Wednesday, demonstrating bipartisan support for a tough response to the North's nuclear test on Jan. 6 and long-range rocket launch on Feb. 7.
U.N. Security Council resolutions ban the communist country from either act.
"The bill will be passed ... and the House is contemplating whether to send it straight to the White House or on the 16th," the official said, noting that the House goes into a weeklong recess next week.
Once the bill is forwarded to the White House, President Barack Obama is required by law to sign it within 10 days, the official added.
The legislation calls for the mandatory blacklisting of those assisting Pyongyang with its nuclear and missile programs, human rights abuses, cyberattacks and other crimes. It is believed to be the strongest sanctions bill ever introduced in Congress against the communist nation.
The legislation (H.R. 757), which was originally authored by Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, passed the House last month before it was combined with similar bills in the Senate proposed by Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ).
If passed by the House, it will be the first sanctions legislation exclusively targeting North Korea to pass both the House and the Senate. (Yonhap)
