[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 72 (Tuesday, May 18, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H3224]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN NORTH KOREA

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to protest the horrifying human 
rights violations in North Korea.
  I recently met with three courageous individuals who escaped from 
prison camps in North Korea. They describe prisoners being beaten, 
tortured, used as targets for prison guards' practice of martial arts, 
and forced to watch the execution of ``enemies of the state,'' such as 
peaceful religious believers.
  The government of the North Korea will not discuss the existence of 
these prison camps, yet we know from eyewitness accounts that these 
places of death exist. Despite the fact that groups of people are 
brought to the prison camps each day, the prison camp population 
remains the same. What happens to these prisoners?
  Mr. Speaker, these prison camps must be abolished without further 
death and destruction to the people inside them. Our government must 
urge the North Korean government to cease these human rights 
violations.

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