Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., joined other lawmakers Thursday calling for an embargo on North Korea by introducing legislation to ban any entity from doing business with the country.
The proposed bill requires President Donald Trump to prohibit all government and business interactions and imposes trade sanctions.
North Korea successfully launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile that has the range to hit Alaska. The regime has fired 17 missiles since February. Kim Jong Un has tested more missiles than his father and grandfather combined.
Gardner said the latest successful missile test demonstrated the intent and capability to hit the United States, and that should never be allowed to happen.
“We must take every diplomatic and economic measure now to stop North Korea and to prevent nuclear war,” Gardner said in a news release.
Senators across the aisle, such as Ed Markey, D-Mass., said the United States needs to increase economic sanctions from China to bring the Korean regime to the table to forfeit nuclear weapons.
“These negotiations could offer the prospect of engaging North Korea in line with international norms by ending horrific human rights abuses, including labor trafficking,” Markey said in a news release.
Human rights groups have repeatedly condemned the isolated regime for its treatment of citizens. Pyongyang has sent tens of thousands of its people to Russia as laborers for money.
Ohio resident Otto Warmbier, 23, died after being in a coma after a year and a half of North Korean detention. Warmbier had been arrested and condemned to 15 years’ hard labor after being accused of trying to steal a propaganda sign from a Pyongyang hotel.
The bipartisan legislation is not the first economic restraint placed on the country. Gardner and Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., voted in favor of a bill to toughen sanctions on North Korea last year over its nuclear program, human rights record and cyber activities. The unanimously approved legislation was the first time Congress imposed mandatory sanctions on North Korea.
Trump said in a press conference with South Korea that patience with North Korea has failed and called it a menace.
“The era of strategic patience with the North Korean regime has failed. That patience is over,” Trump tweeted.
The White House said last month it would impose additional sanctions on Chinese entities that conduct business with North Korea. Gardner and others have praised the move.
Josephine Peterson is a reporting intern for the Herald in Washington, D.C., and a recent graduate of American University. Reach her at jpeterson@durangoherald.com and follow her on Twitter @jopeterson93.
