House committee wants North Korea back on list of terrorism sponsors

WASHINGTON, June 17 (UPI) -- The House Foreign Affairs Committee passed two measures pertaining to state sponsors of terrorism on Thursday, and one of the bills recommended relisting North Korea as a sponsor because Pyongyang "meets the criteria for designation."

The legislation, HR 5208, requests North Korea be placed back on the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism, according to a press release from the committee.

The bill also requires Washington to produce a report on North Korea's terrorist designation.

"In 2008, North Korea's designation was rescinded following commitments it made to dismantle its nuclear weapons program," said Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "North Korea got its delisting, but kept its nuclear program – as evidenced by its fourth nuclear test earlier this year."

North Korea had been placed on the U.S. list of terrorism sponsors for the 1987 bombing of a Korean Air flight that killed all 115 passengers.

Two North Korean bombers were traced to Bahrain, and one of the suspects survived, was convicted, but was later pardoned by the Seoul government in 1989.

The Bush administration removed North Korea from the list in 2008, hoping to push Pyongyang on denuclearization and dialogue.

In the statement issued Thursday, Royce also stated the Kim Jong Un regime has been reportedly supplying surface-to-air missiles and explosives to Hamas and Hezbollah.

He also pointed out North Korea has attempted assassinations of dissidents living overseas and shelled a South Korean island in 2010 that killed civilians.

Washington has been reconsidering returning North Korea to the list since the 2014 hacking of Sony Pictures, Yonhap reported.