[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 92 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 92

  Expressing concern over the disappearance of David Sneddon, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 23, 2017

 Mr. Lee (for himself, Mr. Hatch, Mrs. Fischer, Mr. Sasse, Mr. Coons, 
    Mr. Rubio, Mr. Flake, and Mr. Gardner) submitted the following 
  resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Expressing concern over the disappearance of David Sneddon, and for 
                            other purposes.

Whereas David Louis Sneddon is a United States citizen who disappeared while 
        touring the Yunnan Province in the People's Republic of China as a 
        university student on August 14, 2004, at the age of 24;
Whereas David had last reported to family members prior to his disappearance 
        that he intended to hike the Tiger Leaping Gorge in the Yunnan Province 
        before returning to the United States and had placed a down payment on 
        student housing for the upcoming academic year, planned business 
        meetings, and scheduled law school entrance examinations in the United 
        States for the fall;
Whereas People's Republic of China officials have reported to the Department of 
        State and the family of David that he most likely died by falling into 
        the Jinsha River while hiking the Tiger Leaping Gorge, although no 
        physical evidence or eyewitness testimony exists to support this 
        conclusion;
Whereas there is evidence indicating that David did not fall into the river when 
        he traveled through the gorge, including eyewitness testimonies from 
        people who saw David alive and spoke to him in person after his hike, as 
        recorded by members of David's family and by embassy officials from the 
        Department of State in the months after his disappearance;
Whereas family members searching for David shortly after he went missing 
        obtained eyewitness accounts that David stayed overnight in several 
        guesthouses during and after his safe hike through the gorge, and these 
        guesthouse locations suggest that David disappeared after passing 
        through the gorge, but the guest registers recording the names and 
        passport numbers of foreign overnight guests could not be accessed;
Whereas Chinese officials have reported that evidence does not exist that David 
        was a victim of violent crime, or a resident in a local hospital, 
        prison, or mental institution at the time of his disappearance, and no 
        attempt has been made to use David's passport since the time of his 
        disappearance, nor has any money been withdrawn from his bank account 
        since that time;
Whereas David Sneddon is the only United States citizen to disappear without 
        explanation in the People's Republic of China since the normalization of 
        relations between the United States and China during the administration 
        of President Richard Nixon;
Whereas investigative reporters and nongovernmental organizations with expertise 
        in the Asia-Pacific region, and in some cases particular expertise in 
        the Asian Underground Railroad and North Korea's documented program to 
        kidnap citizens of foreign nations for espionage purposes, have 
        repeatedly raised the possibility that the Government of the Democratic 
        People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) was involved in David's disappearance; 
        and
Whereas investigative reporters and nongovernmental organizations who have 
        reviewed David's case believe it is possible that the Government of 
        North Korea was involved in David's disappearance because--

    (1) the Yunnan Province is regarded by regional experts as an area 
frequently trafficked by North Korean refugees and their support networks, 
and the Government of the People's Republic of China allows North Korean 
agents to operate throughout the region to repatriate refugees, such as 
prominent North Korean defector Kang Byong-sop and members of his family 
who were captured near the China-Laos border just weeks prior to David's 
disappearance;

    (2) in 2002, North Korean officials acknowledged that the Government of 
North Korea has carried out a policy since the 1970s of abducting foreign 
citizens and holding them captive in North Korea for the purpose of 
training its intelligence and military personnel in critical language and 
culture skills to infiltrate foreign nations;

    (3) Charles Robert Jenkins, a United States soldier who deserted his 
unit in South Korea in 1965 and was held captive in North Korea for nearly 
40 years, left North Korea in July 2004 (one month before David disappeared 
in China) and Jenkins reported that he was forced to teach English to North 
Korean intelligence and military personnel while in captivity;

    (4) David Sneddon is fluent in the Korean language and was learning 
Mandarin, skills that could have been appealing to the Government of North 
Korea after Charles Jenkins left the country;

    (5) tensions between the United States and North Korea were heightened 
during the summer of 2004 due to recent approval of the North Korean Human 
Rights Act of 2004 (Public Law 108-333) that increased United States aid to 
refugees fleeing North Korea, prompting the Government of North Korea to 
issue a press release warning the United States to ``drop its hostile 
policy'';

    (6) David Sneddon's disappearance fits a known pattern often seen in 
the abduction of foreigners by the Government of North Korea, including the 
fact that David disappeared the day before North Korea's Liberation Day 
patriotic national holiday, and the Government of North Korea has a 
demonstrated history of provocations near dates it deems historically 
significant;

    (7) a well-reputed Japanese non-profit specializing in North Korean 
abductions shared with the United States its expert analysis in 2012 about 
information it stated was received ``from a reliable source'' that a United 
States university student largely matching David Sneddon's description was 
taken from China by North Korean agents in August 2004; and

    (8) commentary published in the Wall Street Journal in 2013 cited 
experts looking at the Sneddon case who concluded that ``it is most 
probable that a U.S. national has been abducted to North Korea,'' and 
``there is a strong possibility that North Korea kidnapped the American'': 
Now, therefore, be it--

    Resolved, that the Senate--
            (1) expresses its ongoing concern about the disappearance 
        of David Louis Sneddon in Yunnan Province, People's Republic of 
        China, in August, 2004;
            (2) directs the Department of State and the intelligence 
        community to jointly continue investigations and to consider 
        all plausible explanations for David's disappearance, including 
        the possibility of abduction by the Government of the 
        Democratic People's Republic of Korea;
            (3) urges the Department of State and the intelligence 
        community to coordinate investigations with the Governments of 
        the People's Republic of China, Japan, and South Korea and 
        solicit information from appropriate regional affairs and law 
        enforcement experts on plausible explanations for David's 
        disappearance;
            (4) encourages the Department of State and the intelligence 
        community to work with foreign governments known to have 
        diplomatic influence with the Government of the Democratic 
        People's Republic of Korea to better investigate the 
        possibility of the involvement of the Government of the 
        Democratic People's Republic of Korea in David Sneddon's 
        disappearance and to possibly seek his recovery; and
            (5) requests that the Department of State and the 
        intelligence community continue to work with and inform 
        Congress and the family of David Sneddon on efforts to possibly 
        recover David and to resolve his disappearance.
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