Rep. David Trott, R-Mich., (right) listens as Ambassador Sung Kim (left) answers his question.
WASHINGTON — The House Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday pressed experts on how to effectively sanction North Korea in response to the hack on Sony Pictures.
“Now this brutal regime has added a new weapon to its arsenal: cyberattacks,” said Rep. Ed Royce, the California Republican who is chairman of the committee.
On Nov. 24, confidential data that belonged to Sony Pictures Entertainment was hacked and leaked to the public. The hackers demanded that “The Interview,” a comedy about a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, be canceled. Since then, U.S. officials allege that the North Korean government sponsored the attack.
“It is our goal and has been our strategy in the Treasury Department to implement sanctions in a way that separates North Korea from the rest of the world,” Assistant Treasury Secretary Daniel Glaser told the committee.
President Barack Obama signed an executive order on Jan. 2 imposing economic sanctions on North Korea in response to the Sony hacks.
Rep. Brad Sherman, D–Calif., asked about other methods of inhibiting North Korea. Instead of financial sanctions, he encouraged broadcasting American television into the country 24 hours a day to educate North Koreans on what is going on in democratic countries.
“How do you have trade sanctions against a country where we have no trade?” he asked the panel.
Even though many congressmen want additional punishments or more action, the sanctions already in place have made an impact on the North Korean economy.
“We had a lot of success in [the financial sanctions],” Glaser said. “They don’t need broad access, they only need a few points of access.”
Glaser said that his department has been working with international banks to stop the flow of currency into North Korea. But, even if just a few banks continue to work with North Korea, the country will be able to stay afloat.
Although the financial sanctions have been successful, the overall goal has not been met, Glaser admitted.
“The broad goal is to affect the change and to affect behavior,” he said. “We’re not there and it’s incredibly frustrating.”
The Foreign Relations Committee threw questions at the three experts for about two hours, covering subjects from Chinese-North Korean interaction to simply whether North Korea had a nuclear bomb. Glaser did not know whether North Korea has yet developed a bomb nor do the other officials who testified, former Ambassador Sung Kim and Brig. Gen. Gregory Touhill.
“North Korea should not be engaged in any nuclear activities,” Kim said.
The UN Security Council has set regulations saying North Korea should suspend all nuclear activities, including tests.
“So, for [North Korea] to offer to refrain from something that they should not be doing in the first place in return for our adjusting our routine, defense-oriented, open exercise with the Republic of Korea makes absolutely no sense,” Kim said after the hearing.
