    [House Hearing, 113 Congress]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

       THE NORTH KOREA SANCTIONS ENFORCEMENT ACT; THE HUMAN TRAFFICKING
     PREVENTION ACT; AND URGING THE GOVERNMENT OF AFGHANISTAN, FOLLOWING A
     SUCCESSFUL FIRST ROUND OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION ON APRIL 5, 2014,
     TO PURSUE A TRANSPARENT, CREDIBLE, AND INCLUSIVE RUN-OFF PRESIDENTIAL
        ELECTION ON JUNE 14, 2014, WHILE ENSURING THE SAFETY OF VOTERS,
                CANDIDATES, POLL WORKERS, AND ELECTION OBSERVERS

    =======================================================================

                                     MARKUP

                                   BEFORE THE

                          COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
                            HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                        ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS

                                 SECOND SESSION

                                       ON

                      H.R. 1771, H.R. 4449 and H. Res. 600

                                   __________

                                  MAY 29, 2014

                                   __________

                               Serial No. 113-168

                                   __________

            Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs

    Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/
                                      or
                           http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/

                                     ______

                    U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
    88-105                    WASHINGTON : 2009
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------
    For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing
    Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512-1800; DC
    area (202) 512-1800 Fax: (202) 512-2104  Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC
    20402-0001

                          COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS

                     EDWARD R. ROYCE, California, Chairman
    CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey     ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York
    ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida         ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American
    DANA ROHRABACHER, California             Samoa
    STEVE CHABOT, Ohio                   BRAD SHERMAN, California
    JOE WILSON, South Carolina           GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York
    MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas             ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey
    TED POE, Texas                       GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia
    MATT SALMON, Arizona                 THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida
    TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania             BRIAN HIGGINS, New York
    JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina          KAREN BASS, California
    ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois             WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts
    MO BROOKS, Alabama                   DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island
    TOM COTTON, Arkansas                 ALAN GRAYSON, Florida
    PAUL COOK, California                JUAN VARGAS, California
    GEORGE HOLDING, North Carolina       BRADLEY S. SCHNEIDER, Illinois
    RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas            JOSEPH P. KENNEDY III,
    SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania                Massachusetts
    STEVE STOCKMAN, Texas                AMI BERA, California
    RON DeSANTIS, Florida       ALAN S. LOWENTHAL, California
    TREY RADEL, Florida--resigned 1/27/  GRACE MENG, New York
        14 deg.                          LOIS FRANKEL, Florida
    DOUG COLLINS, Georgia                TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii
    MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina         JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas
    TED S. YOHO, Florida
    LUKE MESSER, Indiana--5/20/14
        noon deg.
    SEAN DUFFY, Wisconsin--5/29/14
        noon deg.

         Amy Porter, Chief of Staff      Thomas Sheehy, Staff Director

                   Jason Steinbaum, Democratic Staff Director

                                C O N T E N T S

                                  ----------
                                                                       Page

                                   MARKUP OF

    H.R. 1771, To improve the enforcement of sanctions against the
      Government of North Korea, and for other purposes..............     2
      Amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 1771 offered by
        the Honorable Edward R. Royce, a Representative in Congress
        from the State of California, and chairman, Committee on
        Foreign Affairs..............................................    67
          Amendment to the amendment in the nature of a substitute
            offered by the Honorable Joaquin Castro, a Representative
            in Congress from the State of Texas......................   114
          Amendment to the amendment in the nature of a substitute
            offered by the Honorable Gerald E. Connolly, a
            Representative in Congress from the Commonwealth of
            Virginia.................................................   116
    H.R. 4449, To amend the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of
      2000 to expand the training for Federal Government personnel
      related to trafficking in persons, and for other purposes......   117
    H. Res. 600, Urging the Government of Afghanistan, following a
      successful first round of the presidential election on April 5,
      2014, to pursue a transparent, credible, and inclusive run-off
      presidential election on June 14, 2014, while ensuring the
      safety of voters, candidates, poll workers, and election
      observers......................................................   120

                                    APPENDIX

    Markup notice....................................................   136
    Markup minutes...................................................   137
    Markup summary...................................................   139
    The Honorable Gerald E. Connolly: Prepared statement.............   140
       THE NORTH KOREA SANCTIONS ENFORCEMENT ACT; THE HUMAN TRAFFICKING
     PREVENTION ACT; AND URGING THE GOVERNMENT OF AFGHANISTAN, FOLLOWING A
     SUCCESSFUL FIRST ROUND OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION ON APRIL 5, 2014,
     TO PURSUE A TRANSPARENT, CREDIBLE, AND INCLUSIVE RUN-OFF PRESIDENTIAL
        ELECTION ON JUNE 14, 2014, WHILE ENSURING THE SAFETY OF VOTERS,
                CANDIDATES, POLL WORKERS, AND ELECTION OBSERVERS

                                  ----------

                             THURSDAY, MAY 29, 2014

                           House of Representatives,

                         Committee on Foreign Affairs,

                                Washington, DC.

        The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:06 a.m., in
    room 2172 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Edward Royce
    (chairman of the committee) presiding.
        Chairman Royce. This committee will come to order. Pursuant
    to notice we meet today to mark up three measures. As member
    offices were notified yesterday, in view of the six concurrent
    committee markups taking place right now and the broad support
    for the items that we are considering here, the ranking member
    and I intend to consider en bloc all three measures together
    with the amendments that were provided to you previously.
        And so without objection, the following items which all
    members have before them are considered read and will be
    considered en bloc: H.R. 1771, the North Korea Sanctions
    Enforcement Act; Royce Amendment Number 29 in the Nature of a
    Substitute to that H.R. 1771; the Castro Second Degree
    Amendment Number 33 to H.R. 1771, expressing the sense of
    Congress on enforcement of relevant U.N. Security Council
    resolutions; the Connolly Second Degree Amendment Number 118 to
    H.R. 1771, requiring progress on reunification of separated
    Korean families including for Korean Americans; H.R. 4449, the
    Human Trafficking Prevention Act; and House Resolution 600
    regarding the upcoming presidential run-off election in
    Afghanistan.
        [The information referred to follows:]

        Chairman Royce. So without objection all members may have 5
    days to submit statements for the record and any extraneous
    materials on today's items. And after opening remarks by myself
    and by the ranking member, Eliot Engel, I will be glad to
    recognize any member seeking recognition to speak on the en
    bloc items.
        So, beginning with our legislation on North Korea. That
    country remains one of the greatest threats due to the fact
    that they are developing weapons, and given the attitude of Kim
    Jong-un, one of the greatest threats not to just the United
    States but to our allies in Northeast Asia. The dictators of
    North Korea have repeatedly defied the international
    community's efforts to dismantle the nuclear program there.
        For years, North Korea has repeatedly dangled the promise
    of nuclear disarmament and dismantlement of their program in
    order to get existing sanctions eased. It has been 6 years
    since North Korea walked away from the negotiating table. The
    only thing that has changed since 2008 is that North Korea is
    closer to miniaturizing a nuclear warhead. Our North Korea
    policy, frankly, has been a bipartisan failure. Last year when
    we held a hearing on North Korea, it had just completed its
    third nuclear test and it had successfully launched a three-
    stage intercontinental ballistic missile. Today, reports show
    that North Korea may soon conduct a fourth nuclear test. The
    administration says that its North Korea policy remains one of
    strategic patience.
        It is now time for Congress to lead by providing a clear
    legislative framework for sanctions to deprive Kim Jong-un of
    his ability to build nuclear weapons and to deprive him of his
    ability to repress and abuse the North Korean people. The North
    Korea Sanctions Enforcement Act seeks to apply the same type of
    pressure that the Treasury Department successfully applied in
    2005 when it targeted a small bank in Macau that was complicit
    in Pyongyang's counterfeiting. This was the bank of Delta Asia.
    This impact sent a ripple throughout the international
    financial system. If you will recall, 10 other banks complied
    once Banco Delta Asia was named, and as a consequence hard
    currency was cut off from North Korea. It seriously crimped the
    financing there. It stopped the ability for them to continue
    their build-up on their missile program. It made it impossible
    for the dictator there to pay his generals, which is never a
    good position for a dictator to be in. So this was one of the
    most effective steps we have taken against North Korea. It
    lasted in place, as I recall, about 8 months until the State
    Department brought significant pressure on Treasury, and this
    was under the Bush administration. State was interested in
    getting them lifted in the hopes that that would then get North
    Korea to the table, of course those negotiations proved to be
    fruitless. And we lost the ability at that time for the one
    thing that had held in check, the ability of the regime to
    continue on its program.
        This legislation we have with us today enables our
    Government to go after Kim Jong-un's illicit activities just
    like we went after organized crime in our own country. And it
    does so by interdicting shipments and disrupting the flow of
    money. And these sanctions target North Korea's money
    laundering. Just as in '05 it was a case of them counterfeiting
    $100 bills that got us to the point where sanctions were put in
    place, they are involved in money laundering, they are involved
    in counterfeiting. Of course they are involved in illicit
    smuggling and narcotics trafficking, for those who have watched
    the way in which the regime gets the lion's share of its hard
    currency. And there is a focus on North Korea's deplorable
    human rights violations in this legislation by targeting those
    officials responsible specifically for torture, for the gulags,
    for the extrajudicial killings that are sadly a fact of life in
    North Korea today. So this bipartisan piece of legislation has
    over 135 co-sponsors. It has garnered the support of
    humanitarian groups worldwide. And humanitarian aid is in no
    way affected, I should note for the members here.
        Second, we go to H.R. 4449, the Human Trafficking
    Prevention Act, and this seeks to ensure that U.S. personnel
    overseas are properly equipped to perceive and combat the
    scourge of human trafficking. Though current law requires that
    the State Department be trained to identify trafficking
    victims, it does not prescribe minimum training requirements,
    this bill does that.
        It adds some of these specifics which I think are
    important, a training course for Department personnel who deal
    with trafficking issues; trafficking briefings of all the
    ambassadors and deputy chiefs of mission before they depart to
    their posts so they know their responsibilities in this regard;
    annual reminders to personnel regarding key trafficking issues
    relating to their countries of focus. As you know we have made
    significant changes in the law and we want to make sure that
    they are enforcing it.
        So let me see if we have some additional notes here.
    Lastly, we have House Resolution 600, which urges the
    Government of Afghanistan to pursue a transparent, credible,
    and inclusive run-off Presidential election. I thank Mr.
    Grayson of Florida for his work on this timely resolution. Less
    than 2 months ago, Afghans overwhelmingly flocked to the polls
    to vote in Presidential and provisional elections.
        Now I think this is interesting. More than 7 million Afghan
    citizens cast a ballot during the first round of voting. That
    dwarfs the 4.5 million who voted in 2009. Although the April
    elections were a significant improvement, there is still
    progress to be made. Numerous electoral complaints led to the
    invalidation of votes in certain precincts, and just last week,
    Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission fired poll
    workers who were accused of voter fraud.
        This resolution urges the Government of Afghanistan to
    lessen the risk of fraud, to improve electoral transparency, to
    enhance security efforts, and increase voter participation
    during the upcoming run-off. Importantly, it also recognizes
    the sacrifices of the members of our armed forces and
    underscores that this election will contribute to the security
    and stability interests of both Afghanistan and of the United
    States. Afghans will finally select a successor to President
    Karzai on June the 14th. This election offers the chance for a
    fresh start with a new President and will allow Afghans to
    create a new and better era.
        We now go to Mr. Eliot Engel of New York for his opening
    comments, the ranking member.
        Mr. Engel. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for holding
    this markup and for again the bipartisan collaboration on the
    three measures before us today. I would like to begin by
    commending you for your hard work on the North Korea Sanctions
    Enforcement Act, and for your longstanding commitment to
    address the grave threat posed by North Korea. I have been
    there twice. It doesn't make me an expert, but once you step
    foot in that country you realize something is terribly wrong.
        This bill would broaden U.S. sanctions against those
    helping sustain the regime in Pyongyang whose crimes against
    humanity the U.N. Human Rights Office says are, and I quote,
    ``without parallel in the modern world.'' The North Korean
    regime is no stranger to sanctions, and it is clear why:
    Development of nuclear weapons, arms smuggling, transnational
    crime. To me, however, the brutal repression of the North
    Korean people, above all, warrants the enactment of this
    legislation.
        With this bill, Congress labels North Korea supporters as
    equally responsible for the horrors imposed by Kim Jong-un and
    his cronies on the North Korean people. This measure provides
    broader and tougher sanctions against North Korea's illicit
    activities. It gives the President flexibility to use the
    authorities in this act most effectively, and it carefully
    avoids any interference with the relief organizations providing
    food, medicine, and other humanitarian aid to the North Korean
    people.
        That is the irony. The United States has been the strongest
    and the greatest provider of food and medicine and other
    humanitarian aid to the North Korean people, while their brutal
    regime kills their own people and vilifies the United States.
    This bill is aimed at those few around the world who have
    chosen to remain morally blind to the crimes of the North
    Korean State. I urge all of our colleagues to support it.
        I want to commend our colleague, Mr. Connolly, who has been
    relentless in urging passage of this legislation. Indeed, he
    has been relentless in terms of everything involving the
    repression in North Korea. He was speaking to me about it,
    urging us to pass it, working with us on it to help stop the
    North Korean regime. And I want to publicly thank Mr. Connolly
    for his strong support and his help with this legislation.
        Mr. Chairman, I also support H.R. 4449, a bill introduced
    by my colleague from New York, Representative Sean Patrick
    Maloney. His legislation would expand training requirements for
    Federal Governmental deg. personnel including
    employees of the State Department in identifying and preventing
    human trafficking.
        Human trafficking is modern-day slavery and its victims are
    robbed of their freedom and dignity. This crime spans the
    globe, driving profits of up to $32 billion a year. Best
    estimates tell us that as many as 27 million people are victims
    of human trafficking, many coerced into forced labor or
    commercial sex with no means of escape.
        One of the best ways to stop this crime is to make sure
    people know it when they see it. This bill would provide
    comprehensive mandatory training and special briefings on human
    trafficking for embassy reporting offices, regional bureaus'
    trafficking in persons coordinators and their superiors. It
    would also keep our State Department and other Federal
    Government personnel up to speed on the key problems, threats,
    methods, and warning signs of human trafficking, specific to
    their country or post.
        Mr. Chairman, we need to remember that people, not
    policies, are often the first line of defense against modern
    slavery, and this legislation will better prepare our diplomats
    and other public servants to spot this crime and take action as
    they serve at their diplomatic posts abroad. So I urge my
    colleagues to support this important legislation as well.
        And finally, I support a resolution on the Presidential
    election in Afghanistan that was introduced by our colleague,
    Representative Grayson. On April 5th, the people of Afghanistan
    went to the polls. We saw incredible courage that day from the
    candidates, the poll workers, and all those who have braved
    countless acts of violence and intimidation because they wanted
    their voices to be heard.
        Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission recently
    announced that none of the candidates garnered more than 50
    percent of the vote, so the Commission scheduled a run-off
    election for June 14th. The Afghans should be proud of their
    electoral system, civil society, media, and security forces for
    carrying out a successful first round of voting. Let me also
    congratulate the two leading vote recipients, Dr. Abdullah
    Abdullah, and Dr. Ashraf Ghani.
        This run-off represents another step forward for the people
    of Afghanistan. The future of their country is in their hands.
    And this resolution conveys, it is critical that this run-off
    election be credible, inclusive and transparent. The long-term
    stability, prosperity and security in Afghanistan depend on a
    democratically-elected government that reflects the will of the
    Afghan people. So I urge our colleagues to support this
    resolution as well.
        So Mr. Chairman, in closing I would like to again thank you
    for holding this markup and look forward to working with you to
    advance all three of these measures.
        Chairman Royce. Well, thank you, Mr. Engel. I will just ask
    if any of the members here seek recognition to speak on any of
    the en bloc amendments.
        Mr. Rohrabacher of California?
        Mr. Rohrabacher. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and let
    me thank you and the ranking member. Both you and the ranking
    member have provided such great leadership on this, and the
    bipartisan positive spirit that now, I think, dominates this
    committee reflects the hard work and spirit that both of you
    have given to your job. And you do work really hard at this
    job, I know. So first to commend both of you on this, and of
    course I am supportive of all three of the resolutions that
    have been brought before us.
        Just to take one note about North Korea. My father was a
    Korean War veteran, and over the years I had many talks with
    him about that particular conflict. I think what is interesting
    is that battle was 50 years ago. I remember, and I have
    mentioned that my father told me that he could not imagine that
    at that time when he was a young man in Korea that we would
    still have American military personnel stationed in Korea and
    doing a job, a military job in Korea. None of those guys who
    fought there felt that this was something that they were going
    to do to establish an American garrison overseas that would be
    there forever, and that their job forever would be, and
    America's job would be, to be deterring action, hostile action
    on that peninsula.
        I would suggest the reason they are still there is because
    we have not taken those steps that are necessary to bring about
    a change of regime, if you would like to say, or a change in
    the situation in North Korea. We in fact over the years have
    subsidized North Korea. And many of the people in the committee
    now don't remember those days, I do, in which we were spending
    millions of dollars providing food and energy to North Korea.
    That obviously has not worked.
        We need to understand that North Korea is a vicious
    dictatorship and we should be taking the steps that will permit
    in some way a unification of Korea but under democratic
    government. And that means that we should be supporting people
    who will have an impact in North Korea rather than just
    thinking we will keep our troops there for another 50 years.
        Today we celebrate the 25th anniversary of Tiananmen
    Square. And celebrate, we commemorate, I should say,
    commemorate Tiananmen Square. We didn't do the right thing
    there either, and we still have a dictatorship. It was a
    turning point 25 years ago that we could have sided with the
    people. And there was no price or penalty that the Chinese
    Communist regime has paid for this monstrous obliteration of
    freedom at Tiananmen Square 25 years ago.
        Let us note that behind Korea, behind the Government of
    Korea is the Government of China, the Communist Chinese Party
    of China. We as a country, we should do more than just think
    that our policies need to focus on providing a garrison at a
    point in the world that might be some kind of an area, a
    volatile area like Korea.
        But instead, we should be thinking about the power of
    liberty and justice and democracy and the ideals that our
    country was founded upon, and start finding people in those
    other countries who will ally ourselves with those values and
    start supporting them. That is the way we can bring about real
    change and not have to have our troops garrisoning various
    parts of the world.
        We appreciate again your resolutions on Korea, and Mr.
    Chairman, you have taken such a heartfelt position on this
    human trafficking, and we know that, and then again
    Afghanistan. Thank you for those three pieces of hard work on
    your and Mr. Engel'sEliot's (sic) deg. part today.
        Chairman Royce. Well, thank you. Like Mr. Engel, I have
    been in North Korea, and our hearts go out to the people of
    North Korea in terms of what they have suffered through for the
    last three generations now of the dictatorship there. And our
    hope is that that situation will evolve into one where they
    have some modicum of human rights, some freedoms, some liberty.
        And it is our hope that between this legislation and what
    we passed a few weeks ago with respect to the revamping of the
    Broadcasting Board of Governors that we might be able to better
    broadcast into North Korea the types of messaging which might
    lead to the pressures for a respect for human rights in that
    country.
        The result of how one treats one's own people is also
    indicative of how a regime will treat its neighbors, and that
    is one of the great problems for North Korea with respect to
    the horror of the human rights condition there. For those of us
    who have talked to those who have escaped out of the gulags, it
    is a numbing experience to hear people recount to you the types
    of stories we heard about concentration camps generations ago
    during the time of the Second World War and predating the War,
    to know that that happens today on a daily basis in North
    Korea, I think, is a heavy weight for all of us in the
    international community who feel some responsibility to try to
    do something about it to push North Korea in the right
    direction.
        We now go to Mr. Albio Sires from New Jersey.
        Mr. Sires. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. I just want
    to express how refreshing it is to have a chairman and a
    ranking member that work so well together, and all the members.
    This is truly an atmosphere of bi-partisanship especially
    against such a leader in the world. And I want to commend the
    members participating. And all the amendments, I support all
    three amendments.
        But I especially want to recognize my colleague,
    Congressman Connolly. He has been an outspoken member of this
    Congress against the North Koreans and their abuses, and his
    amendment today shows a great deal of sensitivity toward the 2
    million Korean families that are in those countries. So I thank
    you, and I thank my colleague for all his work.
        Chairman Royce. Thank you, Mr. Sires. Any other members
    seeking recognition?
        Mr. Connolly?
        Mr. Connolly. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I thank you and
    Mr. Engel for scheduling this markup. We talked on the floor
    and I really appreciate you scheduling it. I thank you for your
    kind words, Mr. Engel, and yours as well, Mr. Sires.
        This legislation, I think, is an important symbol by the
    Congress that we are not going to stand idly by and allow the
    depredations and the unspeakable brutality of a regime that
    would make George Orwell pause in the systematic suppression of
    free thought, of freedom of any kind, in creating this system,
    state system, that has so degraded the human spirit.
        And whether it is the development of a nuclear capability
    or the tact as you said, Mr. Chairman, that their own internal
    policies clearly reflect their external policies. And we have
    seen that where they have engaged in provocative activity, they
    have actually engaged in acts of terrorism and violence against
    their neighbor in South Korea and others, and we must speak
    out.
        They have actually engaged of course in the--we talk about
    human trafficking today, legislation, and I also
    enthusiastically support--but the North Korea regime has
    actually degraded itself to the point of abducting individuals
    as part of their policy. And this regime has to fall, and the
    United States, as I said, must be a beacon of hope and freedom
    for those who suffer under its oppression.
        You mentioned, Mr. Chairman, the gulags in North Korea. It
    is estimated that as many as 200,000 North Koreans are being
    held against their will in such gulags. This is something we
    thought was over with at the end of the Stalin period 60 years
    ago, and yet here it is, persistent in the 21st century.
        And so I think this legislation is important not only for
    what it does in tightening sanctions against that regime, but
    in sending the strongest message I hope in a unanimous
    bipartisan basis by this Congress that we will stand shoulder
    to shoulder with the people of North Korea in their aspirations
    and hopes for a freer future.
        Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I also want to finally echo
    the comments of my friend, Mr. Rohrabacher of California. It is
    such a refreshing and hopeful experience to come to this
    committee and see how work is conducted in a professional and
    bipartisan manner. I think it is a model for other committees
    in the Congress, and I commend you and your staff, Mr.
    Chairman, a delight to work with. And you, Mr. Engel, and your
    staff, similarly, a delight to work with. Thank you for your
    bipartisan leadership.
        Chairman Royce. Thank you, Mr. Connolly. I think that when
    we speak about the Orwellian system there, the late Christopher
    Hitchens wrote a piece, ``Why Orwell Matters,'' but I think of
    all that he has written about totalitarian regimes. His story
    about his trip into North Korea is one of the most riveting you
    can read, and the nightmarish conditions there that people
    struggle under is a reminder that all of us in the
    international sphere have some personal responsibility to make
    certain that we do all that we can do to see that some modicum
    of civilization comes to an area where people are beaten down
    the way they are in North Korea.
        I think Mr. Smith of New Jersey.
        Mr. Smith. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and thank you
    for bringing to the committee the North Korea Sanctions
    Enforcement Act of 2014. I think there is a very dangerous
    propensity both in Congress and at the State Department to
    think that North Korea is so bad, its violations of human
    rights so egregious, and its isolation makes it so that people
    are tempted to do very little or nothing to engage it and to
    seek to bring light and scrutiny to these horrific abuses that
    go on each and every day in the past.
        Mr. Chairman, I have chaired four hearings on North Korean
    human rights, and we have actually heard from women who escaped
    from North Korea into China, only to be trafficked once they
    got to China. And then when they were forcibly repatriated,
    they were put into the gulag system, which you called for an
    important study on, the 200,000-plus people who are tortured in
    those terrible gulags and many of them have died. When you try
    to escape North Korea it is considered treasonous, and as a
    direct result those individuals are often tortured to death.
        I also want to thank you for again requiring that there be
    a comprehensive study about the gulag system. Again, we need to
    do more. We need to expose more. No tyrannical regime need be
    forever, and that goes for North Korea as well.
        Finally, I want to again thank Dr. King for the good work
    he has done. He is a former staff director here who has served
    very admirably and very effectively, but very much in
    isolation, the Ambassador to North Korea on behalf of human
    rights with regards to that country. His job has to be as
    frustrating as it gets. He is not allowed to visit Pyongyang,
    but he does do a wonderful job trying to keep the issue front
    and center. And again, he sat right over here on the other side
    of the aisle as the democratic staff director for a whole lot
    of years, and let me express my deep respect for his work.
        And also we have got to keep obviously Kenneth Bae and his
    plight, the American who continues to be held in North Korea,
    and hopefully this kind of legislation will become an
    additional prod to effectuate his release. So again, thank you
    Mr. Chairman, and I yield back the balance.
        Chairman Royce. Thank you, Mr. Smith.
        We go now to Mr. Grayson of Florida.
        Mr. Grayson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This measure
    regarding the Afghan election, the second round, is an
    important one. On May 11, 2013, in Kabul, the U.S. Deputy
    Secretary of State William Burns said that ``a successful
    political transition is an essential prerequisite for
    sustainable security. It is vitally important that the election
    held next April be transparent, credible, and inclusive.''
        On July 9, 2013, the United States Senate unanimously
    agreed to a resolution stating that the Government of
    Afghanistan is urged ``to ensure transparent and credible
    Presidential and provincial elections in April 2014 by adhering
    to internationally accepted democratic standards, establishing
    a transparent electoral process, and ensuring security for
    voters and candidates.''
        In the first round of these elections, voter participation
    increased from approximately 35 percent in the 2009
    Presidential election to almost 60 percent in the election held
    in April, with the percentage of newly-registered female voters
    slightly increasing.
        The 2009 Afghan Presidential election experienced low
    female votes due to the insufficient number of female poll
    workers, and the U.N. Development Programme's Law and Order
    Trust Fund for Afghanistan approved the Ministry of Interior
    request to fund the hiring of 13,000 female election security
    officers in order to bolster female voter turnout for the
    recent Presidential election. Yet, 40 out of Afghanistan's 407
    districts still did not have female election staff due to
    security concerns.
        Twenty seven Afghans were killed on election day in 2009,
    and 17 members of the Afghan National Security Forces were
    killed over the course of nearly 300 insurgent attacks carried
    out during the election held a few weeks ago. After the 2009
    Presidential election, the Independent Electoral Commission
    ordered results from 210 polling places be invalidated, and
    later, after investigating 570 more polling stations
    quarantined by the IEC, found that all but 18 should be
    invalidated as well.
        In the recent election, 809,349 votes cast for the first
    Presidential candidate, 165,339 cast for the second
    Presidential candidate, and 39,555 cast for the third
    Presidential candidate during the June 2014 election have been
    invalidated for fraud.
        The Independent Electoral Commission has performed behind
    closed doors instead of in front of international monitors, and
    information from that Commission was leaked to some candidates
    and not others. In addition to that, on the evening prior to
    the 2014 Presidential election until 5 o'clock p.m. on election
    day, the Government of Afghanistan eliminated text messaging
    capabilities and this greatly inhibited monitoring efforts by
    international organizations. The members of the National
    Democratic Institute were killed in an attack on the Serena
    Hotel in Kabul on March 20, 2014, causing NDI to remove
    significant numbers of staff from Afghanistan and spreading
    fear among other monitors.
        It is very important to understand that while some
    candidates and some campaign staff have proclaimed that, should
    their opponents prevail, Afghanistan will be a less secure
    nation in which more civilians die, therefore creating a
    climate which is not conducive to democratic transition, our
    resolution seeks to address these problems and to solve these
    problems in meaningful ways.
        In advance of the Presidential election now to be held off
    the schedule for June 14th, we commend the Afghan people for
    completing the first round of a Presidential election while at
    the same time urging them toward a credible, inclusive, and
    transparent second round. Great lengths were taken in drafting
    this measure to ensure that it focused solely on the pending
    election, an event on which the House of Representatives has
    yet to comment.
        This measure does not delve into such issues as the
    appropriate number of coalition forces in Afghanistan. Instead,
    what it does simply is commend the Afghan people simply for
    completing the first round of elections, albeit in a somewhat
    flawed fashion, and supporting that the Commission is
    responsible for ensuring transparent and fair voting.
        We encourage the Government of Afghanistan to pursue
    measures that will increase female voter participation. We urge
    the Government of Afghanistan to take all necessary steps to
    combat fraud during the election, including preserving the text
    messaging capabilities that the visitors and observers find so
    essential to be able perform their functions properly. And we
    recognize the important role that Afghan National Security
    Forces, NATO forces, and currently, American forces have had
    and will have ensuring safety on voting day.
        Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
        Chairman Royce. Thank you, Mr. Grayson. We go now to Ms.
    Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii.
        Ms. Gabbard. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I am in
    support of all three of the items that we are marking up today,
    but want to speak very briefly with connection to H.R. 1771,
    the North Korean Sanctions Enforcement Act. And like my
    colleagues, thank you and our ranking member for your
    leadership on this, and especially your remarks that opened up
    this conversation today.
        Much has been said very eloquently about the human rights
    violations that are occurring in North Korea, but specifically,
    the fact that strategic patience, the time for that has come
    and gone. We can talk about the threat that North Korea has to
    the region that it is one of the primary causes of instability
    within the Asia Pacific region.
        I was there in Japan, South Korea, and China last month,
    and heard in each of those three places, both from our military
    as well as folks on the ground there that the threat that North
    Korea continues to provide is one of the most destabilizing
    factors, inhibiting economic growth and opportunity in the
    region. But this is also something that hits very close to
    home.
        You mentioned the intercontinental ballistic missile tests,
    the continued growing capabilities of North Korea, and how
    every time we go through this cycle of threats and then some
    kind of talk of negotiations and finding a peaceful path
    through this, which ideally is what we all would like, North
    Korea's capabilities continue to grow.
        It is a great disservice to our country when North Korea
    makes threats that we have people here at home saying they are
    not close enough or their threats are not serious or they are
    not actually threatening the United States. They are actually
    threatening us very directly. States like mine in Hawaii do
    fall within the range of the ICBMs that they are developing.
        So when we talk about the need for stronger sanctions, the
    need to look back to the hard currency sanctions that have
    worked in the past, this is something that is very real. And it
    is very real to American citizens, it is very real to the
    military assets that we have in our own country, and is
    critical for our own national security and the safety of our
    people that we take this seriously and understand that this is
    a threat that is urgent today, not something that we can
    continue to wait and be patient on to deal with in the future.
        So I appreciate your leadership and your hard and
    thoughtful work on this, and on behalf of the people of my
    State of Hawaii, extend my gratitude. Thank you very much.
        Chairman Royce. Thank you, Ms. Gabbard. We are going to go
    now to Mr. Ted Poe, Judge Ted Poe of Texas.
        Mr. Poe. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for bringing
    all of these bills before the committee today. I would like to
    speak specifically on H.R. 4449, the Trafficking Prevention
    Act, by Mr. Maloney.
        This requires training of State Department officials, and I
    wanted to emphasize the importance of the training to recognize
    especially overseas victims that are trafficked into the United
    States, specifically minor children: Not only that we recognize
    who those children are, but we also need to have training.
    State Department officials need to have training on recognizing
    the problem of the demand, whether that demand occurs by
    Americans or someone else overseas for this scourge of human
    trafficking.
        So this is a good piece of legislation. Education and
    training on human trafficking is critical for us on a worldwide
    basis to stop this criminal conduct, this scourge, but it also
    includes training to recognize the problem and the issue of the
    demand sector. And with that I will yield back.
        Chairman Royce. Thank you, Mr. Poe. We go now Mr. Joaquin
    Castro of Texas.
        Mr. Castro. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I want to thank
    you and Ranking Member Engel for including my amendment to H.R.
    1771 in the en bloc package.
        Recently a U.N. panel recommended that the international
    community must significantly improve enforcement of existing
    resolutions particularly relating to cargo inspections at air
    and sea ports. Recognizing that there are enforcement gaps, my
    amendment urges the United States to strengthen the capacity of
    responsible nations to monitor and intercept shipments to and
    from North Korea that provide them cash as well as technology
    and material for its nuclear and ballistic missiles program.
        I encourage my colleagues of course to support the
    amendment and I thank you all for your support. I yield back.
        Chairman Royce. Thank you, Mr. Castro. Hearing no further
    requests for recognition, the question occurs on the items
    considered en bloc. All those in favor say aye.
        All those opposed, no.
        In the opinion of the Chair the ayes have it. The measures
    are considered en bloc. That would be H.R. 17714573
    (sic) deg., H.R. 44494587 (sic) deg., and House
    Resolution 600. They are agreed to as amended, and without
    objection each of the measures as amended is ordered favorably
    reported as a single amendment in the nature of a substitute.
    Staff is directed to make any technical and conforming changes,
    and that concludes business for today.
        I want to thank our ranking member, Eliot Engel, and all of
    our committee members for their contributions and for their
    assistance, and this committee is adjourned.
        [Whereupon, at 10:45 a.m., the committee was adjourned.]

                                A P P E N D I X

                                  ----------

             Material Submitted for the Record