Page 3 - at

U.S. NEWS A3
Thursday 11 February 2016

Senate passes bill to hit North Korea with harsher sanctions

next five years to transmit Gardner said the Obama ferences in the two bills,
radio broadcasts into North administration’s policy of Sen. Bob Corker, the chair-
Korea, purchase commu- “strategic patience” with man of the Senate Foreign
nications equipment and North Korea has failed. Relations Committee, said
support humanitarian assis- “The situation in the Korea he does not expect any dif-
tance programs. peninsula is at its most un- ficulty in producing a final
The legislation comes in stable point since the armi- measure.
the wake of Pyongyang’s stice,” said Gardner, refer- The House sent the Senate
recent satellite launch ring to the 1953 agreement a bill that was very strong
and technical advances to end the Korean War. and “we’ve been able to
that U.S. intelligence agen- The House overwhelmingly improve it,” said Corker, a
cies said the reclusive Asian approved North Korean Tennessee Republican. “I
nation is making in its nucle- sanctions legislation last think they’ll be happy with
ar weapons program. month. While there are dif- those improvements.”q

Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell of Ky., joined by,
from left, Sen. Roger Wicker,
R-Miss., Sen. John Barrasso,
R-Wyo., Sen. John Thune, R-
S.D. and Senate Majority Whip
John Cornyn of Texas, talks
to reporters on Capitol Hill in
Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 9,
2016, following a closed-door
policy meeting. Seeking to
derail North Korea’s drive for
nuclear weapons, Republi-
can and Democratic sena-
tors set aside their partisan
differences Wednesday to
unanimously pass legislation
aimed at starving Pyongyang
of the money it needs to build
an atomic arsenal.
(AP Photo/J. Scott Apple-
white)

RICHARD LARDNER
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Seek-
ing to derail North Korea’s
drive for nuclear weapons,
Republican and Demo-
cratic senators set aside
their partisan differences
Wednesday to unanimous-
ly pass legislation aimed at
starving Pyongyang of the
money it needs to build an
atomic arsenal.
The Senate approved the
sanctions bill 96-0 after
lawmakers repeatedly de-
nounced Pyongyang for
flouting international law
by pursuing nuclear weap-
ons.
Sen. Bob Menendez said
for too long North Korea
has been dismissed as a
strange country run by ir-
rational leaders. “It’s time
to take North Korea seri-
ously,” Menendez said.
The Senate bill, authored
by Menendez and Sen.
Cory Gardner targets North
Korea’s ability to finance
the development of minia-
turized nuclear warheads
and the long-range missiles
required to deliver them.
The legislation also autho-
rizes $50 million over the