NK should be relisted as terror sponsor if it is behind Kim Jong-nam's murder: report

Published : Feb 17, 2017 - 10:22 Updated : Feb 17, 2017 - 10:22

A US congressman has stressed that the murder of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's estranged half brother, Kim Jong-nam, if confirmed as an act by the country, should result in it being put back on the US terrorism sponsor list, a US broadcaster said Friday.

Rep. Ted Poe, who serves as chairman of the House's subcommittee on terrorism and trade, told Radio Free Asia that it is a "very serious problem" if Kim Jong-un assassinated his half brother.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attends a meeting of the North's ruling Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang on Feb. 15, 2017, to mark the 75th birthday of his late father Kim Jong-il. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

Kim Jong-nam -- the eldest son of late former leader Kim Jong-il -- was killed at an airport in Malaysia on Monday after allegedly being attacked with poison by two women, according to South Korea's spy agency.

According to the RFA, Poe expressed his stance that if the North turns out to be behind the murder, it will be another terrorist act by the North.

The lawmaker introduced a similar bill to the previous House last year, saying Pyongyang meets the criteria for terror sponsor designation. That bill later passed through the Foreign Affairs Committee but was ultimately scrapped as the House expired at the end of last year.

North Korea was put on the US terrorism sponsor list for the 1987 midair bombing of a Korean Airlines flight that killed all 115 people aboard. But the US administration under President George W. Bush removed Pyongyang from the list in 2008 in exchange for progress in denuclearization talks.

Calls had spiked for putting the North back on the list after Pyongyang was found to be responsible for the 2014 cyberattack on Sony Pictures. But the State Department did not do so, saying relisting would only be symbolic without significant practical consequences. (Yonhap)