U.S. lawmakers introduce new N.K. sanctions bill

U.S. House lawmakers submitted a bill that calls for strengthening sanctions on North Korea in the wake of the communist nation's alleged cyber-attack on Sony Pictures, diplomatic sources said Thursday.

The legislation, led by Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is largely similar to a now-defunct bill, which passed the House last year but was later scrapped as it failed to win approval from the Senate before the previous Congress expired, the sources said.

Royce has said he would introduce a similar bill in the new Congress.

The previous legislation, which was also led by Royce, had called, among other things, for allowing the U.S. government to sanction third-country persons and banks that facilitate North Korean proliferation, smuggling, money laundering and human rights abuses.

Efforts to tighten sanctions on North Korea have gained traction in the new Congress because the U.S. vowed to punish Pyongyang after the FBI determined that the communist nation was behind last month's cyber-attack on Sony Pictures.

Early last month, the U.S. government also imposed fresh sanctions on the North, blacklisting three North Korean entities and 10 officials, including the Reconnaissance General Bureau, Pyongyang's top spy agency. (Yonhap)