Republicans in the Florida congressional delegation applauded President Donald Trump for returning North Korea to the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism (SSOT) on Monday.
Besides North Korea, the State Department has Iran, Sudan and Syria listed as state sponsors of terror which leads to more sanctions put on those nations’ regimes. Cuba, Iraq. Libya and South Yemen had been on the list but have been removed. North Korea was removed from the list by then President George W. Bush in 2008.
From his perch on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., applauded the decision.
“I commend the administration for relisting North Korea as a State Sponsor of Terrorism,” Rubio said. “Nuclear-armed North Korea has a long history of cooperating with Iran’s terror-sponsoring regime on ballistic missiles, continues to commit egregious human rights violations against its own people, and is responsible for the recent death of American citizen Otto Warmbier. The United States and other countries, including China, must do everything in our power to end the Kim regime's growing nuclear and missile threats, and bring about a denuclearized Korean peninsula.”
U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., the chairman of the U.S. House Asia and Pacific Subcommittee, has been active on the issue. Earlier this year, Yoho brought back his “State Sponsors of Terrorism Review Enhancement Act" which passed the House last year but died in the Senate. Under current law, a president can remove a nation from the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism after a six month period. Yoho’s proposal extends that period to two years. His legislation also doubles the amount of time Congress has in reviewing the executive branch’s decision to remove a nation from the state sponsor of terror list from 45 days to 90 days.
Yoho cheered Trump’s decision on Monday.
“The redesignation of North Korea as a State Sponsor of Terror is an overdue and essential measure in the peaceful international pressure campaign against Kim Jong-un’s pariah regime,” Yoho said. “In March of this year, I requested this same course of action to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. I also introduced legislation to create oversight on delisting a country from the SSOT. This will make sure the current and future administrations will have to consult with Congress before formally delisting a country from the SSOT.
“North Korea’s consistent record of facilitating terror is beyond dispute, from the callous murder of American college student Otto Warmbier to the use of a banned chemical weapon to assassinate Kim’s half-brother to sales of arms to terrorist groups around the world,” Yoho added. “Duly labeling North Korea a State Sponsor of Terror will reiterate to the globe that Kim’s nefarious activities have no place in the civilized world, further discouraging intercourse with this dangerous regime. Thae Yong-ho, the highest-ranking North Korea defector in decades, told me during his testimony before the Foreign Affairs Committee that this redesignation will help keep up the pressure on Kim. I thank the administration for taking this important step.”
U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the former chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has also been active on the issue. Ros-Lehtinen was critical of the Bush administration when it removed North Korea from the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism and unveiled a proposal back in 2009 calling on the State Department to get it back on it.
“Ever since 2008, I have been adamant that North Korea should be redesignated as a state sponsor of terrorism,” Ros-Lehtinen said on Monday. “In addition to a host of illegal and belligerent acts against civilian targets worldwide, the Kim regime has directly supported terrorist groups as part of a destructive nexus with Iran and Syria. Redesignating North Korea provides the administration with important tools to increase pressure on the Kim regime and I commend the decision to put it back on the list where it belongs.”
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