[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 976 Introduced in House (IH)]
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115th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. RES. 976
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that complete,
verifiable, and irreversible human rights improvements in the
Democratic People's Republic of North Korea should be part of a United
States strategy for a nuclear-free Korean peninsula and a free and open
Indo-Pacific region.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 28, 2018
Mr. Smith of New Jersey (for himself, Mrs. Hartzler, and Mr. Pittenger)
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee
on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that complete,
verifiable, and irreversible human rights improvements in the
Democratic People's Republic of North Korea should be part of a United
States strategy for a nuclear-free Korean peninsula and a free and open
Indo-Pacific region.
Whereas the threat from nuclear proliferation from the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea (North Korea) is a clear and present danger to the
United States and regional allies;
Whereas the Administration's efforts to engage in diplomatic negotiations to
return American hostages and the remains of Americans killed during the
Korean War, and to seek the complete, irreversible and verifiable
denuclearization of the Korean peninsula are welcome and commendable
achievements;
Whereas the Government of North Korea continues to engage in systematic,
widespread, and gross human rights violations, including arbitrary
detentions, torture, forced abortion, human trafficking, particularly
severe religious freedom abuses, public execution of political
prisoners, the death of United States citizen Otto Warmbier and
political purges of relatives and family members, including through the
use of chemical weapons;
Whereas these violations, including the creation of large refugee flows and
famines, the abduction of Japanese, South Korean, and United States
citizens, and the trafficking of North Korean citizens, remain a
distinct threat to regional stability, whether or not North Korea
possesses nuclear weapons;
Whereas the human trafficking of North Korean citizens has provided the
Government of North Korea with foreign currency which supports its
efforts to avoid international sanctions and supports its nuclear
ambitions;
Whereas there remain an estimated 80,000 to 120,000 political prisoners in North
Korea, detained in a system of political prison labor camps;
Whereas in 2014, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea found that the violations
perpetrated against the people of North Korea were established at the
highest level of the Government of North Korea, and such gross human
rights violations amount to crimes against humanity in many instances;
Whereas the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea also found that North Korean
nationals forcibly repatriated by the Government of the People's
Republic of China are subject to torture, prolonged arbitrary detention
and, in some cases, sexual violence, including invasive body searches;
Whereas North Korean nationals found to have been in contact with officials or
nationals from the Republic of Korea (South Korea) or with Christian
churches or humanitarian aid workers may be forcibly ``disappeared''
into prison labor camps, imprisoned in ordinary prisons, or even
summarily executed;
Whereas the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea urged the Chinese Government to
caution relevant officials that repatriation of North Korean nationals
could amount to the aiding and abetting of crimes against humanity where
repatriations and information exchanges lead to the facilitation or
commission of crimes against humanity in North Korea;
Whereas China arrests, detains, or imprisons those individuals who try to assist
North Korean refugees inside China's borders; and
Whereas, notwithstanding high-level advocacy by the United States, South Korea,
and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees,
China has forcibly repatriated tens of thousands of North Koreans: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) requests that the President--
(A) make complete, verifiable, and irreversible
human rights improvements in the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea (North Korea) part of United States
negotiating strategy with North Korea, the People's
Republic of China, and regional allies;
(B) even in the event of concluding an agreement of
a complete, verifiable and irreversible
denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, condition
economic or other assistance and the lifting of
individual sanctions currently imposed on North Korean
officials on complete, verifiable, and irreversible
human rights improvements in North Korea;
(C) seek the dismantling of North Korea's political
prison labor camps and the release of all political and
religious prisoners, estimated at between 80,000 to
120,000;
(D) as part of a comprehensive, ongoing negotiating
strategy with North Korea, consult international
experts about the strategic and political relevance of
the cult of personality surrounding the Kim family
(sometimes referred to as ``Juche''), including by
seeking options for addressing this quasi-religious
ideology in talks with North Korea;
(E) seek the Chinese Government's compliance with
its international obligations to protect and resettle
North Korean refugees and to halt the trafficking of
persons; and
(F) consider placing any North Korean and Chinese
officials complicit in the abuses described in the
preamble of this resolution on the list of specially
designated nationals and blocked persons maintained by
the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Department
of the Treasury under existing sanctions authorities;
(2) requests that the Secretary of State submit to the
Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives
and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, not later
than 90 days after the date of the adoption of this resolution,
a report, that should include--
(A) a strategy to realize the complete, verifiable,
and irreversible human rights improvements in the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) and
the protection of North Korean asylum seekers in China
or elsewhere and including efforts to increase
international coordination and cooperation, whether
unilaterally, bilaterally, or multilaterally to address
human rights in North Korea;
(B) information about the system of prison labor
camps in North Korea and options available for United
States diplomacy to permanently close these camps and
seek the release of an estimated 80,000 to 120,000
political and religious prisoners;
(C) information and an assessment of efforts to
provide uncensored news and other information into
North Korea and whether additional resources are needed
to expand such efforts;
(D) information on efforts to stop the Government
of North Korea and other countries from benefitting
from human trafficking of North Korean citizens;
(E) information about what sanctions are being
employed as part of the effort to achieve complete,
verifiable, and irreversible human rights improvements,
including sanctions that may be employed under the
International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C.
6401 et seq.), the Trafficking Victims Protection Act
of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.), and the Global
Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (22 U.S.C.
2656 note);
(F) information about the termination of any
sanction with respect to the activities of the
Government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
on officials and entities complicit in gross violations
of internationally recognized human rights;
(G) information on efforts to protect North Korean
refugees in China and elsewhere and options for United
States policy;
(H) information on efforts to address individuals
separated or forcibly removed from their families
through displacement during the Korean War, enforced
disappearances and abduction;
(I) information on whether non-sanctioned medical
assistance is reaching North Korea or is being blocked
in China or elsewhere and whether the Administration
needs any additional congressional authority if such
humanitarian assistance is blocked;
(J) information on how the provisions of the North
Korean Human Rights Act and the North Korea Sanctions
and Policy Enhancement Act of 2016 (Public Law 114-122;
22 U.S.C. 9201 et seq.), are being implemented and
integrated into the overall strategy; and
(K) information on efforts to repatriate the
remains of Americans killed in action during the Korean
War;
(3) requests that the Administration consider using the
voice and vote of the United States to establish an ad hoc or
special international criminal tribunal, or a regional or
international hybrid court, to investigate and remedy crimes
against humanity and other atrocity crimes, as appropriate, in
North Korea or those crimes targeting North Korean nationals in
other countries such as China;
(4) requests that the Administration consider section
104(a)(5) of the North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement
Act of 2016 (Public Law 114-122; 22 U.S.C. 9201 et seq.), which
requires the President to impose mandatory penalties under
United States law on any person that ``knowingly engages in, is
responsible for, or facilitates serious human rights abuses by
the Government of North Korea'', as applying to any individual
or entity that is complicit in the trafficking of North Korean
refugees or the forced repatriation of North Korean refugees;
and
(5) requests that the Secretary of State, the Secretary of
Homeland Security, the United States Ambassador to the United
Nations, and the heads of other relevant United States
agencies, assist in finding both temporary and durable
solutions for North Korean asylum seekers in China or
elsewhere.
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