Korean American Divided Families National Registry Act
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. McCORMICK. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 7152) to direct the Secretary of State to establish a national registry of Korean American divided families, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 7152
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Korean American Divided Families National Registry Act''. SEC. 2. NATIONAL REGISTRY OF KOREAN AMERICAN DIVIDED FAMILIES.
The Secretary of State, acting through the Special Envoy on North Korean Human Rights Issues or such other individual as the Secretary may designate, shall--
(1) collate information on Korean American families who wish to be reunited with family members in North Korea from which such Korean American families were divided after the signing of the Agreement Concerning a Military Armistice in Korea, signed at Panmunjom July 27, 1953 (commonly referred to as the ``Korean War Armistice Agreement''), in anticipation of future reunions for such families and family members, including in- person and video reunions; and
(2) establish a private internal national registry of the names and other relevant information of such Korean American families--
(A) to host such future reunions in South Korea, the United States, or third countries; and
(B) to provide for a private internal repository of information about such Korean American families and family members in North Korea, including information about individuals who may be deceased. SEC. 3. ACTIONS TO FACILITATE DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND NORTH KOREA.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of State shall take such actions as may be necessary to ensure that any direct dialogue between the United States and North Korea includes progress towards holding future reunions for Korean American families and their family members in North Korea as described in section 2.
(b) Consultations.--The Secretary of State shall consult with the Government of the Republic of Korea in carrying out this section.
(c) Report.--No later than one year after enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter for 5 years, the Secretary of State shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on--
(1) the status of the national registry established pursuant to section 2(a)(2);
(2) the number of individuals included on the registry who--
(A) have met their family members in North Korea during previous reunions; and
(B) have yet to meet their family members in North Korea during previous reunions;
(3) a summary of responses by North Korea to requests to hold reunions of divided families; and
(4) a description of regulations in North Korea and actions taken by North Korea in the year previous to submission of each report that prevent the emigration of family members of Korean American families.
(d) Appropriate Congressional Committees Defined.--In this Act, ``appropriate congressional committees'' means the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate.
Mr. Speaker, the sorrowful legacy of the Korean war is with us even today, more than 70 years after the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed.
The Korean Peninsula remains divided between a nation of free people and a totalitarian state that subjects its people and its population to utter tyranny and refuses to allow them to connect with the outside world from fear of losing control.
The sinister Kim regime continues to threaten the peace and security of the region and the world. We watched with alarm last week when Vladimir Putin visited North Korea, and the two rogue regimes signed a new strategic partnership agreement.
Meanwhile, families remain broken, from those still fighting to bring the remains of their loved ones home to those with extended family members still in North Korea.
Our vibrant Korean-American community feels this legacy strongly. More than 100,000 have relatives in North Korea, family members and descendants of those trapped on the north side of the 1953 armistice line.
The Korean American Divided Families National Registry Act requires the Secretary of State to establish a voluntary data repository for Korean Americans interested in participating in future reunions with their relatives in North Korea.
This bill also helps to ensure that any future dialogue between the United States and North Korea includes progress toward reunions for Korean-American families.
I thank the authors of this bipartisan bill, Congresswoman Wexton and Congresswoman Steel, for their work to help bring peace to Korean- American families. At the February 6 markup of the Foreign Affairs Committee, H.R. 7152 was unanimously adopted by a vote of 49-0.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.
As a member of the AI task force, that was pretty cool to watch that actually go down just now for Ms. Wexton.
For far too long, the totalitarian regime in P'yongyang has denied Korean-American families the opportunity to reconnect with their family members in North Korea.
The Divided Families National Registry Act helps to lay the groundwork for those eventual reunions for which we continue to hope and work for. May that day arrive soon.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker. I wish to add my voice of support for H.R. 7152, the Korean American Divided Families National Registry Act, introduced by Rep. Jennifer Wexton and Rep. Michelle Steel, good friends and colleagues of mine on the Congressional- Executive Commission on China.
This bill is a very tender-hearted one, for it recognizes the pain which still lingers so many decades after the Korean War Armistice, which divided family members in the North from those in the South.
By creating a registry of those who wish to be united with family members, this bill recognizes the depth of that pain, while offering hope that at some point in the future, a more permanent reunion may be possible.
It also harbors no illusions about the Kim regime in the Communist North, requiring that our State Department raise the reunion issue in any dialogue between the U.S. and the North, in consultation with our ally, the Republic of Korea, without allowing the North the ability to use this emotionally fraught issue as leverage in negotiations.
In other words, the aims of this bill are limited, and tempered by an understanding of the political dynamics on the peninsula, while taking a practical step towards eventual reunion of family members.
I ask my colleagues to join me in support, and I commend Reps. Wexton and Steel for this effort to help Korean-American families,
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. McCORMICK. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source