WASHINGTON -- The US Senate on Wednesday took issue with the inclusion of North Korea sanctions in a broader bill aimed mainly at punishing Russia for its alleged meddling in last year's presidential election.

Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters the penalties against North Korea should be reviewed separately and taken out of the legislation that passed through the House Tuesday with overwhelming support of 419-3.

"Not a word of the North Korea bill has been looked at over here. Not a word," Corker said, according to the Associated Press.

He assured, however, that the original bill targeting Russia and Iran will still become law.

"It's not going to become a calamity. We will work out a way to get through this," Corker said.

The House passed a standalone North Korea sanctions bill in May, and sent it to the Senate where it has since been in limbo.

Those sanctions were then added to the Russia and Iran package to expedite their passage through Congress. To become law, they must later be signed by President Donald Trump.

The move comes amid a growing sense of urgency that North Korea could soon develop a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile capable of hitting the US mainland.

In its first test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile on July 4, the North demonstrated the capability to reach Alaska, according to experts.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that the communist country could field a reliable, nuclear-capable ICBM as early as next year.

The sanctions against North Korea are designed to choke off money flows to the regime's missile and nuclear programs.

In particular, it prohibits "any ships owned by the government of North Korea or owned or operated on behalf of any country not complying with U.N. Security Council resolutions from operating in United States waters or landing at any US port."

It also bans "goods produced in whole or part by North Korean forced labor from entering the United States, and sanctions foreign persons that employ North Koreans who are forced to labor in inhumane conditions and are denied access to wages and benefits."

The legislation authorizes sanctions on those providing the North with crude oil and other related products, and requires the US administration to determine whether the North is a state sponsor of terrorism. (Yonhap)