Published : Jan. 13, 2016 - 09:40
미국 하원은 12일(현지시간) 본회의에서 4차 핵실험을 강행한 북한에 대해 제재를 대폭 강화하는 내용의 대북제재법안(H.R. 757)을 통과시켰다.
이 법안은 찬성 418표, 반대 2표로 통과됐다.
Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee (left) and Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee (AP-Yonhap)
에드 로이스(공화·캘리포니아) 하원 외교위원장이 대표 발의한 이 법안은 대북 금융 및 경제제재를 강화해 북한이 핵과 미사일 개발에 쓸 수 있는 달러 등 경화 획득이 어렵도록 자금줄을 차단하는 것이 핵심이다.
법안은 특히 제재의 범위를 북한은 물론 북한과 불법으로 거래하는 제3국의 기업과 개인 등으로 확대할 수도 있는 내용을 포함하고 있다.
다만, 이는 과거 대(對) 이란 제재처럼 포괄적이고 강제적인 “세컨더리 보이콧”(secondary boycott) 조항과는 달리 미 정부에 관련 조치를 취할 수 있는 재량권을 보장하는 내용이다.
법안은 이와 함께 사이버공간에서 미국의 국가안보를 침해하거나 북한 인권유린 행위에 가담한 개인과 단체들을 처벌할 수 있도록 하는 내용도 담고 있다.
인권유린 및 검열과 관련해선 유엔 북한인권조사위원회(COI) 보고서를 토대로 미 국무부가 김정은 국방위원회 제1위원장의 책임을 규명하도록 촉구하는 조항을 포함시켰다.
법안은 이외에 ▲대량살상무기 차단 ▲사치품을 비롯한 북한 정권 지도층 정조준 ▲자금 세탁·위폐제작·마약 밀거래 등 각종 불법행위 추적 차단 ▲사이버 안보 등 기존 유엔 안보리 결의와 미국 대통령의 행정명령에 포함된 거의 모든 제재 내용을 담고 있다.
외교 소식통은 "지금까지 나온 미국의 양자 대북제재법안 중 가장 포괄적인 법안"이라고 설명했다.
로이스 위원장은 전날 하원 본회의에서 “”깡패 국가” 북한의 각종 불법행위를 차단하는 것은 북한 주민들을 무자비하게 탄압해 온 고위층에 엄청난 압박이 될 것이다. 우리가 미 본토에서 조직화된 범죄를 추적하는 것처럼 김정은 정권의 불법행위를 끝까지 추적 차단해야 한다"면서 "돈세탁, 상품 위조 및 밀매, 마약 거래 등 각종 불법행위에 연루된 그 누구라도 제재를 하는 것이 이번 법안의 취지"라고 강조했다. (연합)
U.S. House overwhelmingly passes N. Korea sanctions legislation
The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to pass a tough sanctions bill on North Korea on Tuesday in the first tangible action taken by the United States to punish the communist nation for its fourth nuclear test.
The House voted 418-2 in favor of the legislation, H.R. 757, a week after the North stunned the world with a surprise nuclear test that it claimed involved a hydrogen bomb, a sophisticated nuclear weapon with yields much greater than conventional ones.
The legislation was introduced by Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and dozens of other House members in February last year in response to the North’s hacking attack on Sony Pictures in late 2014.
It passed through the Foreign Affairs Committee later that month, but has since been dormant.
Calls for its passage gained significant traction after the North’s nuclear test last Wednesday, with House Speaker Paul Ryan promising to put the bill to a vote and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) pledging "strong bipartisan support" for it.
The bill’s passage is the first tangible U.S. action taken to punish Pyongyang after the test.
The Senate is working on similar legislation. The administration of President Barack Obama is also looking into ways to "squeeze" the North with multilateral and unilateral sanctions, according to White House chief of staff Denis McDonough.
"The government of North Korea has repeatedly violated its commitments to the complete, verifiable, irreversible dismantlement of its nuclear weapons programs and has willfully violated multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions calling for it to cease its development, testing and production of weapons of mass destruction," the legislation said.
It also said the North’s conduct poses an imminent threat to the security of the U.S. and its allies, to the global economy, to the safety of members of the United States Armed Forces, to the integrity of the global financial system, to the integrity of global nonproliferation programs and to the people of North Korea.
"The Congress seeks, through this legislation, to use nonmilitary means to address this crisis, to provide diplomatic leverage to negotiate necessary changes in North Korea’s conduct and to ease the suffering of the people of North Korea," it said.
The legislation calls for the U.S. government to use all available tools to impose sanctions not only on the North but also on countries and companies that assist the North in bolstering its nuclear weapons program, according to Royce.
Specifically, the bill denies sanctioned North Koreans and those facilitating their weapons programs access to the U.S.
financial system; targets banks that facilitate North Korean proliferation, smuggling, money laundering and human rights abuses; and targets individuals who facilitated the cyber-attacks against the U.S.
It also authorizes the U.S. president to sanction banks and foreign governments that facilitate the violation of the financial restrictions of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2094, adopted in the wake of the North’s nuclear test in 2013, and requires enhanced inspection requirements of North Korean shipments arriving from ports and airports.
In particular, the legislation calls for the secretary of state to "make specific findings with respect to the responsibility of (North Korean leader) Kim Jong-un" for human rights violations in the country.
"The Kim regime’s continued efforts to develop a nuclear arsenal are a direct threat to the United States. Now is not the time for more of the administration’s “strategic patience.” It’s time for action," Royce said in a statement following the bill’s passage.
"This bill will help cut off Kim Jong-un’s access to the cash he needs to fund his army, his weapons and the continued repression of the North Korean people," the congressman said.
On Monday, Royce said the bill is "the most comprehensive North Korea sanctions legislation" that "uses targeted financial and economic pressure to isolate Kim Jong-un and his top officials from the assets they maintain in foreign banks, and from the hard currency that sustains their rule."
He also likened the legislation to the 2005 U.S. blacklisting of a Macau bank, which almost cut off the North from the international financial system. The measure not only froze North Korean money in the bank but also scared away other financial institutions from dealing with Pyongyang for fear they would also be blacklisted.
The 2005 measure is considered the most effective U.S. sanction yet on the North. (Yonhap)