U.S. lawmakers introduce bill to increase oversight of N. Korea negotiations

All News 02:01 June 28, 2018

WASHINGTON, June 27 (Yonhap) -- Two United States senators have introduced a bill calling for greater congressional oversight of the U.S. government's nuclear negotiations with North Korea.

The bipartisan legislation -- introduced Tuesday by Sens. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Cory Gardner (R-CO) -- comes after President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held a historic summit in Singapore on June 12.

In a joint statement, Kim committed to work toward "complete denuclearization" of the Korean Peninsula in return for unspecified security guarantees from the U.S.

Follow-up negotiations are expected to begin in the coming days with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo leading the U.S. side.

Under the bill, Trump would be required to submit to relevant congressional committees a report detailing progress in the diplomatic negotiations. The first such document would be submitted not later than 90 days after the bill's enactment, and every 180 days thereafter.

The report would include, among other things, a summary of ongoing efforts to "achieve peaceful denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula" and an assessment of a roadmap toward that goal as well as the elimination of the nuclear and ballistic missile threats posed by North Korea.

If a nuclear agreement is reached with North Korea, the president would be required to transmit to the committees within five days the agreement as well as a verification assessment report prepared by the secretary of state.

That report would assess the extent to which Pompeo will be able to verify North Korea's compliance with the agreement and whether the United Nations and other international organizations, such as the International Atomic Energy Agency, will have access to all nuclear and missile facilities, both declared and undeclared, and the ability to "investigate suspicious sites or allegations of covert nuclear-related activities."