Warner joins top senators outlining conditions for any deal with North Korea

U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, joined top Senate Democrats in sending a letter to President Trump outlining conditions for lifting sanctions as part of any deal with North Korea.

The new letter comes ahead of the expected summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to discuss North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, and specifically lists five principles through which the Senators plan to evaluate any deal the President makes with North Korea. The Senators also say that Congress must act as a check on any agreement that does not live up to these principles by imposing tougher sanctions and oversight and the Trump administration must engage Congress throughout any diplomatic process – both before and after the possible summit – given the magnitude of this effort.

In order to earn the support of these Senate leaders for any deal that provides sanctions relief to North Korea, Sen. Warner and others specifically outlined in the letter to President Trump that a deal with North Korea must:

1. Dismantle or remove every single one of North Korea’s nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons;
2. End the production and enrichment of uranium and plutonium for military purposes, and permanently dismantle North Korea’s nuclear weapons infrastructure. This includes the destruction of test sites, all nuclear weapons research and development facilities and enrichment facilities;
3. Suspend all of North Korea’s ballistic missile tests and disable, dismantle and eliminate all of North Korea’s ballistic missiles and programs.
4. Commit to robust compliance inspections including a verification regime for North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Inspections must have complete access to all nuclear related sites and facilities with real time verification of North Korean compliance.  A separate compliance regime for its chemical and biological weapons that prevents, detects and punishes cheating on the part of North Korea is also necessary.  These compliance regimes must include “anywhere, anytime” inspections and snap-back sanctions if North Korea is not in full compliance;
5. Be permanent, without any sunsets.

In addition to Sen. Warner, the letter was signed by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Bob Menendez, Assistant Senate Democratic Leader and Senate Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense Ranking Member Dick Durbin, Senate National Security Working Group Co-Chair Dianne Feinstein, Senate Appropriations Committee Vice-Chair and Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Ranking Member Patrick Leahy, and Senate Committee on Banking Housing and Urban Affairs Ranking Member Sherrod Brown.