(VOVworld)- Lawmakers in the US House of Representatives are pushing to have North Korea designated as a state sponsor of terrorism alongside Iran, Sudan and Syria, eight years after it was taken off the list to smooth the way for the aid-for-disarmament negotiations that collapsed soon after.

Chairman of the US House of Representatives at a press conference in Washington

A bill approved by a House committee Thursday, June 16 calls for the State Department to report to Congress within 90 days on whether a list of purported acts by North Korea, including assassinations of dissidents and weapons sales to militant groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, constitute support for international terrorism. It's the most serious effort yet by lawmakers to get North Korea redesignated, but the legislation still has to clear the full House and Senate, and there's little time left in the congressional calendar for passage.