[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1369 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1369

To prohibit lifting of United States sanctions imposed with respect to 
                              North Korea.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 26, 2019

  Mr. Brendan F. Boyle of Pennsylvania introduced the following bill; 
         which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To prohibit lifting of United States sanctions imposed with respect to 
                              North Korea.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. PROHIBITION ON LIFTING OF UNITED STATES SANCTIONS IMPOSED 
              WITH RESPECT TO NORTH KOREA.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) 
        has a history of cheating on nuclear accords.
            (2) The United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human 
        Rights in North Korea concluded in 2014 that Kim Jong Un and 
        the North Korean leadership was perpetrating ``unspeakable 
        atrocities'' against its own people on a vast scale and 
        committed ``widespread, systematic, and gross violations'' that 
        amount to crimes against humanity.
            (3) The chair of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry 
        on Human Rights in North Korea called these atrocities 
        ``strikingly similar'' to crimes committed by Nazi Germany in 
        World War II, including execution, enslavement, starvation, 
        rape, and forced abortion, and warned Kim Jong Un of his own 
        personal culpability in a special letter attached to the 
        report.
            (4) Under Kim Jong Un's leadership, there are reports of 
        newborn babies in prison being fed to guard dogs, punishment 
        and possible execution of starving prisoners caught digging for 
        edible plants, and forced abortions.
            (5) Kim Jong Un, after taking over the leadership of North 
        Korea, launched political purges, encompassing relatives, 
        including his uncle and half-brother, who was murdered by a 
        chemical weapon in Malaysia in 2017.
            (6) Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old American college student, 
        was brutally tortured by the North Korean regime under Kim Jong 
        Un and died shortly after his release from North Korea.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) any negotiation with North Korea regarding 
        denuclearization should include an equivalent demand for 
        transparency regarding North Korea's human rights situation;
            (2) the United States should not trust Kim Jong Un and the 
        leadership of North Korea to voluntarily and peacefully end its 
        nuclear program as long as they continue to commit mass 
        atrocities against the North Korean people; and
            (3) no sanctions relief should be provided to North Korea 
        until the President certifies to the appropriate congressional 
        committees that the lives of ordinary North Koreans are 
        improving and the Kim family has made progress on North Korea's 
        deplorable human rights situation.
    (c) Limitation on Waiver of Sanctions.--The President may not 
waive, suspend, reduce, provide relief from, or otherwise limit the 
application of United States sanctions imposed with respect to North 
Korea until the President certifies to the appropriate congressional 
committees that North Korea--
            (1) has repudiated and ceased engaging in gross human 
        rights abuses, including operation of slave-labor and political 
        prisoner camps;
            (2) has established a disclosure and transparency process 
        to identify crimes committed by the North Korean regime against 
        its people; and
            (3) has issued a formal apology to the family of Otto 
        Warmbier for the unlawful detention, torture, and murder of 
        Otto Warmbier.
    (d) Appropriate Congressional Committees.--In this section, the 
term ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
            (1) the congressional defense committees (as such term is 
        defined in section 101 of title 10, United States Code); and
            (2) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and 
        the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of 
        Representatives.
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