OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Divided Families Reunification Act

Floor Speech

By: Young Kim
By: Young Kim
Date: July 19, 2021
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Foreign Affairs Family

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Mrs. KIM of California. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to stand in support of H.R. 826, the Divided Families Reunification Act, and I want to thank Congresswoman Meng for introducing this bill and the House Foreign Affairs Committee for ensuring a speedy passage of this timely legislation.

I am also proud to colead another bill under consideration today that addresses this issue, H. Res. 294, introduced by the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Bass).

Since implementing family reunions in 1985, the South and North Korean Governments have facilitated 21 in-person reunions and seven video reunions. However, the nearly 100,000 Korean Americans with family members in North Korea have been left out of this process entirely.

As a longtime advocate for human rights and humanitarian aid in North Korea, I have consistently spoken on the need to prioritize these issues, especially by appointing a Special Envoy for North Korean human rights issues, which has remained vacant since 2017, and remains unfilled under President Biden.

Time is running out for separated family members, as many are in their eighties and nineties, and their numbers continue to dwindle. Congress and the Biden administration must come together to make Korean-American participation and reunifications a reality before it is too late.

My mother-in-law was one of the many Koreans who made the brave journey across the 38th parallel line to bring her family to South Korea. She crossed five times to go back and forth and bring family members across to South Korea.

As an immigrant from South Korea whose family lived through the Korean war, and now as one of the first Korean-American women to serve in Congress, I am proud to use my voice in support of this issue that is deeply personal to me and our Korean-American community.

I want to again thank Representatives Karen Bass and Grace Meng for introducing these measures and for working to garner strong bipartisan support.

I urge my colleagues to support House passage of these bills today and for the Senate to prioritize consideration of this issue on behalf of the tens of thousands of Korean Americans alive today waiting to reunite with their long lost family members.

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey.

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