DeMint to force vote on listing N. Korea as terror sponsor

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) said today that he hopes to force a vote on re-listing North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism.

The Bush administration removed the communist regime from the State Department list after the country pledged to drop their nuclear weapons program and agree to inspections. But North Korea’s recent nuclear and missile tests has some lawmakers clamoring to reverse that decision.

Fifteen Republican senators have signed on to DeMint’s amendment, which he plans to attach to the FDA Tobacco Bill up for a vote this week. (That bill would give the FDA authority to regulate tobacco products.)

“Now is not the time for rhetoric,” said Senator DeMint. “North Korea’s provocative actions must have immediate consequences.”

Listing North Korea as a state sponsor of terror would trigger a number of economic and diplomatic sanctions.