Gardner, Markey Introduce Expanded North Korea Policy and Sanctions Legislation

Washington, D.C. - October 4, 2017 (The Ponder News) -- Senator Cory Gardner (R-CO) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Chairman and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity, introduced comprehensive bipartisan legislation to economically and diplomatically pressure North Korea and its enablers, and authorize efforts to combat Pyongyang’s widespread human rights and labor trafficking abuses, to support and enhance efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the threat of North Korea’s accelerating development of nuclear weapons and the missiles that deliver them. The legislation titled, the Leverage to Enhance Effective Diplomacy Act of 2017, expands on sanctions legislation introduced earlier this year by Gardner and Markey.

“The Administration has taken positive steps in recent weeks to impose additional sanctions and working with governments to diplomatically isolate this heinous regime.” said Gardner. “Senator Markey and I are going to continue working in a bipartisan manner to give nations and companies a clear choice – do business with the United States or do business with North Korea. This legislation will give the Administration the needed additional tools to peacefully denuclearize the North Korean regime.”

“There is no military solution to the threat of a nuclear North Korea,” said Markey. “While the effort to economically and politically isolate North Korea will be essential for a diplomatic strategy to succeed, we must also recognize that pressure, without diplomatic engagement, will quickly become counterproductive. Our diplomatic strategy must combine economic pressure with talks to convince Kim Jong-un that the United States is not the threat he believes us to be and that he does not require nuclear weapons to survive.”