Washington, DC -- Today, Rep. Edward J. Markey, Co-Chair of the House Bipartisan Task Force on Nonproliferation and a senior member of the Committee on Homeland Security, released the following statement regarding the negotiation of an agreement on the denuclearization of North Korea:

“North Korea’s nuclear program is one of the top threats the United States faces, and unfortunately in the first six years of the Bush presidency, the problem got worse.  I am deeply frustrated that it required North Korea to actually test a nuclear weapon to move the White House.  The good news is that as described, this agreement apparently does not contemplate the resumption of the construction of the two Light Water Reactors.  Agreeing to build the Light Water Reactors in 1994 was a mistake, and the Cox-Markey amendment is now the law, barring the transfer of any nuclear materials or technology to North Korea."