Congress passes tougher DPRK sanctions, sends bill to Obama

Lawmakers said they wanted to make Washington's resolve clear to Pyongyang, but also to the United Nations and other governments, especially China, DPRK's lone major ally and main business partner.

The package includes sanctions targeting DPRK and "secondary sanctions" against those who do business with it.

The vote was 408-2, following a 96-0 vote in the Senate on February 10.

Impatient with what they see as Obama's failure to respond to DPRK provocations, many of his fellow Democrats as well as the Republicans who control Congress have been clamoring for a clampdown since Pyongyang tested a nuclear device in January.

DPRK leader Kim Jong Un provides field guidance to the Kim Jong Suk Pyongyang Textile Mill, in this undated file photo released by DPRK 's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang on January 28, 2016.

Obama is not expected to veto the bill, given its huge support in Congress.

White House spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters on board Air Force One that the administration was "deeply concerned" about DPRK's recent actions and would not oppose the legislation.

"We're philosophically and intellectually in the same place as the Congress on this," Schultz said.

The legislation would sanction anyone who engages in, facilitates or contributes to DPRK's proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, arms-related materials, luxury goods, human rights abuses, activities undermining cyber security and the provision of materials for such activities.

Penalties include seizure of assets, visa bans and denial of government contracts.

Unusually, the measure makes most of the sanctions mandatory instead of giving the president the option to impose them. He can temporarily waive them by making the case that doing so would threaten national security.

The House had backed the sanctions measure 418-2 in January, but the Senate included some new provisions, including cyber security measures, in its version, sending it back to the House.