U.S. extends national emergency declaration over N. Korean threats for another year

By Song Sang-ho

WASHINGTON, June 26 (Yonhap) — U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has extended a long-running executive order declaring a national emergency over an “unusual” and “extraordinary” threat posed by North Korea, a White House notice showed Friday.

The White House posted the notice on the Federal Register earlier this week, extending the declaration for another year beyond Friday, when it otherwise would have expired. It marks the second Trump administration’s second extension of the national emergency declaration on the North. The emergency has been in place since 2008.

“The existence and risk of the proliferation of weapons-usable fissile material on the Korean Peninsula and the actions and policies of the Government of North Korea continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States,” the notice said.

The extension comes as Pyongyang has been doubling down on its nuclear and ballistic missile programs amid its deepening cooperation with Russia and China.

The North’s advancing military threats have continued to deepen security concerns in South Korea and beyond, particularly in the absence of dialogue between the two Koreas, as well as between the North and the U.S.