Obama extends sanctions on North Korea

U.S. President Barack Obama has extended sanctions against North Korea for another year citing Pyongyang's continuing threat to stability on the Korean Peninsula. The national emergency in relation to North Korea was declared by the Bush administration in 2008 under the National Emergencies Act. The Obama administration has not only kept extending the emergency, but also imposed tougher sanctions on Pyongyang in April, including a ban on direct and indirect imports of North Korean goods. "The existence and the risk of proliferation of weapons-usable fissile material on the Korean Peninsula, and the actions and policies of the Government of North Korea that destabilize the Korean Peninsula and imperil U.S. Armed Forces, allies, and trading partners in the region, continue to constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States," Obama said in a message to the U.S. Congress on Thursday.