Obama Extends Sanctions Against N.Korea

U.S. President Barack Obama said he will extend U.S. economic sanctions against North Korea for another year. In a notice to Congress on Friday, Obama described the North as an "unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy and economy of the United States."

"I am continuing for one year the national emergency" under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, he added.

The North has "weapons-usable fissile material" and there is a risk of its proliferation, Obama said.

The act authorizes the executive order to impose economic sanctions on countries that pose a threat to U.S. national security without approval from the legislative.

In June 2008, the George W. Bush administration removed the North from a list of state sponsors of terrorism when the regime took some measures toward denuclearization but decided to keep the sanctions intact.

Since then Washington has toughened sanctions in a new executive order in the wake of the regime's second nuclear test, sinking of the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan, and shelling of Yeonpyeong Island.

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