House lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to label North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism, calling for new sanctions as the rogue regime continues to develop its nuclear weapons program.

"It is not a matter of if, but when Kim Jong-Un will be brazen enough to attack one of our allies, or even the United States," House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Monday. "Only by calling our adversaries what they are so they know that America will be steadfast in its defense of freedom and liberty can we have a realistic hope of maintaining peace."

The legislation, which passed 394-1, expresses the House's sense that North Korea meets the criteria for inclusion on the list of state sponsors of terrorism. It would require Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to review the regime's recent behavior and adopt or reject Congress's view within 90 days of the bill becoming law. The legislation, which could lead to the imposition of unilateral U.S. sanctions on North Korea, is advancing just as President Trump prepares to host Chinese President Xi Jinping for a summit designed to induce China's cooperation in curbing the regime.

"We must be honest and forthright abroad, making clear that North Korea's ballistic missile testing is unacceptable and that the Kim regime is worthy of sanctions as it is undoubtedly a state sponsor of terrorism," McCarthy said.

Some foreign policy experts disagree, arguing that it's a blunt instrument that doesn't fit the details of the case against the regime. "[T]he North's behavior, while odious, is not terrorism by any normal definition," the Cato Institute's Doug Bandow wrote at The National Interest. "The North poses a challenge not because it is sponsoring terrorism, but because it is taking many other equally bad, if not worse, actions. While the Kim assassination has captured public attention, developing a nuclear arsenal and long-range missiles poses a much greater threat. Affixing the terrorism label offers no relief."

That's hardly a unanimous view, particularly in light of dictator Kim Jong-un's assassination of his half-brother with a chemical weapon and renewed fears of collaboration between North Korea and Iran. "In 2009 alone, three North Korean arms shipments bound for terrorist groups were interdicted," Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, who authored the terrorism designation bill, said on the House floor last week. "North Korean experts have advised both Hezbollah and Hamas in the construction of their terrorist tunnel networks . . . North Korea's actions have only grown more flagrant since being removed from the terrorism list. Kim's actions threaten our infrastructure, our economy, and ultimately our national security."