A U.S. House committee on Thursday passed a bill calling for relisting North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism.

The legislation (H.R.5208), which was introduced by Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) last month, passed through the House Foreign Affairs Committee. It calls for putting the North back on the State Department's list of states sponsoring terrorism, saying the regime "meets the criteria for designation."

Specifically, the bill requires the president to review about 20 cases involving North Korea, including its 1987 bombing of a South Korean jetliner, and submit a report to Congress on whether they meet the requirements for terror sponsor designation or give a detailed justification as to why the cases do not meet the criteria for such a determination.

North Korea was put on the U.S. terrorism sponsor list for the 1987 midair bombing of a Korean Airlines flight that killed all 115 people aboard. But the U.S. administration of former President George W. Bush removed Pyongyang from the list in 2008 in exchange for progress in denuclearization talks.

"In 2008, North Korea's designation was rescinded following commitments it made to dismantle its nuclear weapons program. North Korea got its delisting, but kept its nuclear program -- as evidenced by its fourth nuclear test earlier this year," said Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), chairman of the House committee.

"Since 2008, not only has North Korea’s nuclear weapons program advanced, so too has its support for terrorism. The Kim regime has reportedly continued to supply surface-to-air missiles and explosives to Hamas and Hezbollah, shelled South Korean civilians on Yeongpyeong Island, and attempted assassinations of North Korean dissidents living abroad," he said.

Calls had spiked for putting the North back on the list after Pyongyang was found to be responsible for the 2014 cyberattack on Sony Pictures. But the State Department did not do so, saying relisting would only be symbolic without significant practical consequences.

The department left off the North from its latest terror sponsor list released earlier this month, saying the regime in Pyongyang "is not known to have sponsored any terrorist acts since the bombing of a Korean Airlines flight in 1987." (Yonhap)