The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday called for stiffer U.S. sanctions against North Korea over threats from its nuclear and missile programs, human rights abuses and a recent cyberattack on Sony Pictures Entertainment.

The Obama administration recently announced sanctions targeting officials and front companies of the North Korean government. Rep. Ed Royce, a Republican, said more needs to be done because most of those blacklisted had already been targeted by U.S. sanctions.

“Last year’s cyberattack is estimated to have cost Sony hundreds of millions of dollars in damage,” Royce said during a committee briefing on North Korea. “It was a state-sanctioned attack that has many Americans asking, ‘If that is what North Korea can do to a movie company, how vulnerable is our critical infrastructure, such as our energy grid? What about my cyber security?”‘

Royce said the U.S. needs to step up and target financial institutions in Asia and elsewhere that are supporting the North Korean government.

Royce said that last year, the House passed legislation to ramp up the financial pressure on North Korea, pressing the country to be designated a primary money laundering concern — as has been done with Iran — curtailing its sale of weapons and stepping up inspections of North Korean ships, among other steps.

The Senate did not act on the legislation before adjourning, but Royce said the Republican-led House will attempt to push it again.

North Korea denied involvement in the cyberattack on Sony. It is upset about the movie, “The Interview,” which depicts an assassination attempt on the North Korean leader.
North Korea and the U.S. remain technically in a state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. The rivals also are locked in an international standoff over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs and its alleged human rights abuses. A United Nations commission accuses North Korea of a wide array of crimes against humanity, including murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment and rape.

(AP)