A meeting of the US House of Representatives in Washington DC (Photo: AFP/VNA)

The bill cuts North Korea’s links to the global financial system. It requires the US Treasury Department to freeze the accounts of financial institutions and companies that conduct business with North Korea. The bill was named after Otto Warmbier, an American student who died in June after being sent home from a North Korean prison.

Sixteen members of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee sent a letter urging Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to put North Korea back on the “state sponsors of terrorism” list. The US Senate is scheduled to vote this week on new sanction bills against North Korea and Iran.