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Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Congressman Andy Levin (MI-09) have written to President Joe Biden urging him to ease restrictions on delivery of life-saving aid by non-governmental organizations to the people of North Korea. In their argument, both Congress members said that the U.S. should differentiate between the dictatorial regime and the people of North Korea. More than 40 percent of North Koreans are undernourished and the growth of one out of every five children under the age of 5 is stunted. (https://www.voanews.com/a/biden-faces-calls-for-north-korea-sanctions-relief-/6307216.html)
The letter calls on the Biden administration to revise Treasury Department regulations that limit humanitarian exports to North Korea and to expedite passports for U.S. humanitarian workers willing to work in North Korea.
This is not for the first time that Markey and Levin are asking the U.S. to reduce sanctions against North Korea. In March, both Democrats reintroduced a bill that was aimed at sending lifesaving aid to the North Korean people and fastrack humanitarian travel permissions for people involved in humanitarian aid activities. (https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20200415000200325)
Considered a climate hawk, Markey has asked President Biden to strike a nuclear deal with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping so that China can be engaged on other important issues. “We fear that the current climate of distrust and uncertainty over recent developments in China’s nuclear weapons program may lead both the United States and China to engage in worst-case military planning,” Markey along with four other Congressmen had written to Biden in April. (https://www.politico.com/newsletters/national-security-daily/2021/11/04/4-dems-urge-biden-to-strike-nuclear-deals-with-china-494983)
After the talks between former President Donald Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong-Un failed, sanctions were tightened even further. According to some between 2004 and 2019, Congress passed eight punitive provisions related to trade and finance with North Korea. (https://thediplomat.com/2021/03/its-time-to-reexamine-us-sanctions-on-north-korea/)
Read more:
What Sen Markey wrote in his letter to Biden:
https://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senator-markey-rep-levin-urge-president-biden-to-roll-back-humanitarian-aid-restrictions-to-north-korea