Senate to vote on hitting North Korea with tougher sanctions

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is considering hitting North Korea with more stringent sanctions in the wake of Pyongyang's satellite launch and technical advances that U.S. intelligence agencies say the reclusive Asian nation is making in its nuclear weapons program.

The bill that senators are expected to vote on Wednesday targets North Korea's ability to access the money it needs for developing miniaturized nuclear warheads and the long-range missiles to deliver them, according to the legislation's backers.

In the annual assessment of global threats delivered to Congress on Tuesday, Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper said North Korea has expanded a uranium enrichment facility and restarted a plutonium reactor that could start recovering material for nuclear weapons in weeks or months.

North Korea already faces wide-ranging sanctions from the United States and under existing U.N. resolutions is prohibited from trading in weapons and importing luxury goods.