North Korea answers U.S. sanctions with accusations

One day after the House voted to increase sanctions on North Korea, the rogue nation’s state media claimed the United States and South Korea plotted and failed to kill Kim Jong Un using biochemical substances.

The Korean Central News Agency alleged the CIA worked with South Korea to enable terrorists to enter North Korea and kill Kim with “biochemical substances including radioactive substances and nano-poisonous substances.”

North Korea promised to “mercilessly destroy” terrorists for targeting its leader.

“The Ministry of State Security whose mission is to safeguard the leader, the social system, and the people will ferret out to the last one the organizer, conspirator, and followers of the recent hideous state-sponsored terrorism,” the central news agency reported.

North Korea has a reputation of making unfounded claims and threats against the United States and other nations. But South Korea has admitted in the past to plotting to remove Kim from power.

The CIA has yet to respond to the accusation.

Legislation approved Thursday in the U.S. House would up economic and human rights sanctions on North Korea.

“North Korea poses an urgent threat to the United States and our allies,” said Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman and sponsor of the bill. “The threat from North Korea is real, and real threats demand real responses. This bill gives the administration a powerful tool to cut off North Korea’s funding by going after those who do business with the regime.

The House overwhelmingly supported the sanctions, passing it by a vote of 419-1. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., was the lone lawmaker to vote no. The bill targets the North Korean shipping industry and use of slave labor, which could strip the nation of billions. If signed into law, the new measure would also initiate a 90-day countdown for the Trump administration to report to Congress a determination of whether the nation should return to the state sponsors of terrorism list.

With near-unanimous support in the House, the Senate is expected to pass the sanctions without contention before sending the legislation to the president’s desk. While a vote has not been scheduled yet, the Senate has already begun discussions on the North Korean threat, with all 100 senators meeting at the White House last week for a classified briefing.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said last month he was considering placing North Korea back on the terror list but hadn’t made a final determination. The designation would trigger additional sanctions and restrict the amount of U.S. foreign assistance to the country. North Korea has been off the list since 2008, and only Iran, Sudan, and Syria remain.

The House vote comes amid new threats from North Korea against the U.S. mainland. President Donald Trump previously said all options were on the table to rein in North Korea as the nation continues to test and improve its nuclear arsenal.

Trump told Bloomberg News Monday he would be open to meeting with North Korean leader Kim “under the right circumstances.” But White House press secretary Sean Spicer quickly walked back those comments, telling reporters “clearly conditions are not there right now” for such a meeting.

The sanctions specifically bar North Korean ships, or ships from other countries that trade with North Korea and refuse to comply with resolutions from the United Nations, from operating in U.S.-controlled waters or docking at U.S. ports. It would also stop North Korean ships carrying goods made by slave labor from entering U.S waterways—blocking trade routes and deterring the country from forced labor practices.

Royce said companies from countries all over the world import North Korean workers, who then send their salaries back to Pyongyang, earning the Kim regime billions of dollars each year.

Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., the lead Democratic sponsor of the bill, said the United States had been sending mixed messages on North Korea long before Trump ever arrived in Washington, and now is the time to refocus.

“When America appears confused or unmoored, it emboldens our adversaries and gives our friends and allies pause. And when we’re talking about nuclear weapons, there’s simply no margin for error,” Engel said on the House floor.