§ 9201 — Findings; Purposes

(a) Congress finds the following: (1) The Government of North Korea— (A) has repeatedly violated its commitments to the complete, verifiable, and irreversible dismantlement of its nuclear weapons programs; and (B) has willfully violated multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions calling for North Korea to cease development, testing, and production of weapons of mass destruction. (2) Based on its past actions, including the transfer of sensitive nuclear and missile technology to state sponsors of terrorism, North Korea poses a grave risk for the proliferation of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. (3) The Government of North Korea has been implicated repeatedly in money laundering and other illicit activities, including— (A) prohibited arms sales; (B) narcotics trafficking; (C) the counterfeiting of United States currency; (D) significant activities undermining cybersecurity; and (E) the counterfeiting of intellectual property of United States persons. (4) North Korea has— (A) unilaterally withdrawn from the Agreement Concerning a Military Armistice in Korea, signed at Panmunjom July 27, 1953 (commonly referred to as the “Korean War Armistice Agreement”); and (B) committed provocations against South Korea— (i) by sinking the warship Cheonan and killing 46 of her crew on March 26, 2010; (ii) by shelling Yeonpyeong Island and killing 4 South Korean civilians on November 23, 2010; (iii) by its involvement in the “DarkSeoul” cyberattacks against the financial and communications interests of South Korea on March 20, 2013; and (iv) by planting land mines near a guard post in the South Korean portion of the demilitarized zone that maimed 2 South Korean soldiers on August 4, 2015. (5) North Korea maintains a system of brutal political prison camps that contain as many as 200,000 men, women, and children, who are— (A) kept in atrocious living conditions with insufficient food, clothing, and medical care; and (B) under constant fear of torture or arbitrary execution. (6) North Korea has prioritized weapons programs and the procurement of luxury goods— (A) in defiance of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1695 (2006), 1718 (2006), 1874 (2009), 2087 (2013), and 2094 (2013); and (B) in gross disregard of the needs of the people of North Korea. (7) Persons, including financial institutions, who engage in transactions with, or provide financial services to, the Government of North Korea and its financial institutions without establishing sufficient financial safeguards against North Korea’s use of such transactions to promote proliferation, weapons trafficking, human rights violations, illicit activity, and the purchase of luxury goods— (A) aid and abet North Korea’s misuse of the international financial system; and (B) violate the intent of the United Nations Security Council resolutions referred to in paragraph (6)(A). (8) The Government of North Korea has provided technical support and conducted destructive and coercive cyberattacks, including against Sony Pictures Entertainment and other United States persons. (9) The conduct of the Government of North Korea poses an imminent threat to— (A) the security of the United States and its allies; (B) the global economy; (C) the safety of members of the United States Armed Forces; (D) the integrity of the global financial system; (E) the integrity of global nonproliferation programs; and (F) the people of North Korea. (10) The Government of North Korea has sponsored acts of international terrorism, including— (A) attempts to assassinate defectors and human rights activists; and (B) the shipment of weapons to terrorists and state sponsors of terrorism. (b) The purposes of this chapter are— (1) to use nonmilitary means to address the crisis described in subsection (a); (2) to provide diplomatic leverage to negotiate necessary changes in the conduct of the Government of North Korea; (3) to ease the suffering of the people of North Korea; and (4) to reaffirm the purposes set forth in section 7802 of this title.